Madden Mischief

Yes, it certainly was a momentous, glorious, fantastic achievement, an historic moonshot, a mission we all watched intently from start to finish, many with bated breath!

Here was our dauntless, bravely adventurous crew of Artemis II astronauts managing to successfully fly 700,000 miles, circle the moon, be the first to see its dark side, then return safely not just to earth, but to the planet’s boldest, most advanced and now certainly the clear leader in space travel, The United States of America. 

What this unprecedented, awesome achievement so dramatically underscored was how magnificently advanced our country is technologically in space travel, which was so apparent in this latest conquest that went further than the human race has ever gone before and then to return so majestically all in one piece after withstanding heat of over 5,000 degrees.  Amazing!

Yet, I can’t help wondering with a touch of worry if in just a few decades from now this heroic space journey will go down as just another headline in a long list of breakthroughs such as cavemen becoming civilized, explorers discovering life across what was thought to be just a flat, dead-end ocean and then gasoline-powered vehicles suddenly roaring and telling horse and buggies to go take a hike.

How sad such a vividly memorable event such as this capsule’s great journey that we all witnessed and experienced will soon go down as so many others of mankind’s most notable achievements have descended only to gradually submerge into the abyss of history books.

But, for many of us Artemis II will live on forever as it should.

And what a fittingly, fabulous celebratory event it was, more like a home coming party for the four now famous astronauts where I once lived as a kid growing up deep in the heart of Texas, Houston. There my dad once played his violin at a famous nightclub while my mom waited up for him, and I’d be sound asleep at the Buccaneer Hotel in nearby Galveston.  It was wonderful watching those astronauts hug one another on stage after they’d literally set the stage for now deeper penetration and more triumphant adventures into our solar system. Yes, OUR solar system.  It’s all ours and way bigger than Greenland! We own it and it was great seeing America and Canada so warmly embracing as a clear sign that we’re so deeply together!

Bravo Artemis II. 

Bravo retired Navy captain Reid Wiseman, the dauntless commander of the mission.  Bravo to the other amazing members of the courageous crew, Victor Glover, pilot, and mission specialists Christina Koch and to Canadian Jeremy Hansen.  

And bravo to NASA, The National Aeronautical Space Administration, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Navy and to our leader and our Commander in Chief, President Trump.

Author Tom Madden just felt he had to join the chorus of congratulators for the spectacularly successful Artemis II mission.  Madden’s heart is in generating publicity for great ventures as his PR firm, TransMedia Group has been doing for its clients worldwide for over 40 years.  Today, Madden is still CEO of the PR firm he founded when he left NBC, and his daughter Adrienne Mazzone is the firm’s president.