Humility and hospitality in ‘Project Hail Mary’ and the Artemis II mission
Photograph by NASA via Unsplash
Rev. Mindi Welton-Mitchell
This article contains spoilers for the movie Project Hail Mary.
Like many people, I was captivated by the Artemis II mission as it circled the moon. I watched the launch live and continued to check in on the mission for its entirety, watching and praying until they returned to Earth. The images captured by the astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft Integrity conveyed a sense of awe and wonder: yes, for the Moon to which astronauts had not returned to for over 50 years, but even more for our own planet. Pilot Victor Glover, the first African American astronaut on a lunar flyby mission, stated:
You guys are talking to us because we’re in a spaceship really far from Earth, but you're on a spaceship called Earth that was created to give us a place to live in the universe. Maybe the distance we are from you makes you think what we’re doing is special, but we’re the same distance from you. And I’m trying to tell you — just trust me — you are special.
Mission specialist Christina Koch, the first woman astronaut on a lunar flyby mission, shared after she returned to Earth: “I know I haven’t learned everything that this journey has yet to teach me. But there’s one new thing I know, and that is planet Earth: You are a crew.”
The crew aboard the spacecraft expressed a deep humility every time they spoke about what they were seeing and experiencing, and they always directed their experiences back to us on Earth and how important it was to remember that we all are part of it. They shared with us photos and videos of what they saw outside the ship, to live video feeds and daily interviews inside a space they described as the size of two minivans together where they lived for ten days. They didn’t receive much privacy from Earth, let alone each other, but they understood the importance of the mission: for all of us to remember that we, as humanity, are in this life and on this one planet together. Almost every experience on board was an experience shared with viewers on Earth.
Just before Artemis II launched, the movie “Project Hail Mary” was released in theaters. An adaptation of Andy Weir’s book by the same name, the main character is middle school teacher Ryland Grace, played by Ryan Gosling, the sole survivor on a mission to save humanity as the sun is dying. The ship, and the mission, are named Project Hail Mary in reference to the football term, of going all in on one last shot. While visiting the star Tau Ceti to learn why it is the only star not affected the way other stars are, he comes across another ship, with an alien who is also the sole survivor of its mission.
Perhaps assuming the best of intentions and presuming goodness could inspire us not only in future space exploration, but as our astronauts so clearly communicated, bring a sense of unity: on Earth as it is in the heavens.
What I love about the book and the movie is, except for a moment of fear when Grace first spots the ship, the inclination of both Grace, and the alien who becomes known as Rocky, is to assume good intentions of the other. Grace assumes that Rocky is on a similar mission to save his own people and learn how to stop the damage to the star in his system. Rocky presumes Grace wants to communicate and makes a model of Grace’s ship to show he understands, until they figure out a way to translate each other’s language. Throughout the story, the assumption is that they both want similar outcomes. There is a sense of awe and wonder as they each have traveled to a new star and a new world for the first time. There is a shared empathy for their crew, a shared compassion for the suffering of their kind on each of their home worlds. There is communal excitement as they make scientific discoveries together and share findings with each other. Rocky often exclaims, in a way translated into English: “Amaze amaze amaze.”
This same phrase from the movie was repeated by the NASA crew in response to Integrity as the astronauts approached the Moon, echoing both the awe and wonder, but also the shared excitement of our astronauts in space as well as the crew back home on earth. While the movie became number one at the box office in March, the Artemis mission broke records for viewing on live TV, with over 27 million watching as the Integrity capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego.
The awe and wonder of seeing the Moon and the Earth from space often inspire us to go back to the texts that express that same amazement at creation. During the Apollo 8 mission, on Christmas Eve, 1968, astronauts Bill Anders, Jim Lovell, and Frank Borman read Genesis 1:1-10, reading how God created the earth and heavens. Many have reflected in the weeks following the completion of the Artemis II mission that Psalm 8:3-4 reminds us that when we look up to the heavens, “the moon and the stars that you have established; what are humans that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?”
The psalmist answered this question a long time ago, that we have been made a little lower than the angels (or, a little lower than God, the Divine). Yet even when the four Artemis II astronauts were circling the moon, and seven other astronauts were aboard the International Space Station at the same time, all the rest of humanity was on this one planet, this Earth. Astronaut Christina Koch said while on board Integrity: “We will explore. We will build ships. We will visit again. We will construct science outposts. We will inspire — but, ultimately, we will always choose Earth. We will always choose each other.”
From ancient texts to science fiction, our imagination leads us to a holy wonder and awe for that which is beyond what most of us will ever experience. The lived experience of witnessing the crew of Artemis II circle the moon and return to Earth remind us that humility and awe can lead us to an intention of hospitality, a presumption of good intentions, and wanting the best for each other. As Grace and Rocky hoped the best for each other (and Grace ultimately sacrificed his own chance to return to Earth to save Rocky’s life and home planet), I wonder, and hope, that there is a lesson for us there that won’t be forgotten. Perhaps assuming the best of intentions and presuming goodness could inspire us not only in future space exploration, but as our astronauts so clearly communicated, bring a sense of unity: on Earth as it is in the heavens.
Rev. Mindi Welton-Mitchell is executive minister, American Baptist Churches of Wisconsin.
The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
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