Two weeks ago, I flew four days in a row — and drove to and from the airport four days in a row — to maximize time with my family between a Wednesday event in Minnesota and a Friday event in Orlando.
So when I found myself back in Orlando for an event the following Tuesday, I took my husband’s advice and stayed in the Sunshine State for my Thursday-morning keynote in Jacksonville.
Tuesday night, I opened Google Maps in my hotel room and realized something fun: Kennedy Space Center would be less than an hour detour!
Then, almost immediately, an even more exciting thought hit me: Artemis II is on the launchpad!
A Change To The Flight Plan
I’m a lifelong space superfan, and the idea of getting to see Artemis II at NASA’s famed Launch Pad 39B was too exciting to pass up. I quickly updated my rental car booking and, despite the insane excitement I felt about the next day, tried to fall asleep.
Artemis II is NASA’s upcoming manned mission around the Moon. It will carry three Americans and a Canadian farther into space than anyone has traveled since Apollo 17 (in 1972) and will carry us closer to our return to the Moon (Artemis III, later this decade) and, eventually, Mars.
Last week was a return trip to Kennedy Space Center for me, too. In 2023, I was chosen by NASA for a “NASA Social” mission that was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. For two days, about 20 space enthusiasts were granted behind-the-scenes access to Kennedy Space Center, posing questions to astronauts, engineers, and scientists and getting up-close access to iconic spaces like the Vehicle Assembly Building and NASA’s launch press area.
The culmination of the experience was watching NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 launch to the International Space Station. It was my first launch, my first sonic boom, and my first overwhelming feeling of, “Why isn’t everyone as excited about this space mission as its importance merits?”
I had a flashback to that feeling on Wednesday.
Standing on the third floor of the gantry at LC-39, looking out at the massive SLS rocket and Orion capsule, I got emotional. I wasn’t just thinking about our future with Artemis — I was thinking about our past with Apollo.
Another Shot at the Moon
Like many of you, I was born long after the July 1969 Moon landing. It’s easy to look back and imagine the Apollo program as something the entire world remained deeply invested in. But that’s not what actually happened.
Public interest waned quickly after Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins returned home as heroes carrying moon rocks.
The launch of Apollo XIII wasn’t even broadcast live by most television networks. Humanity dreamed of reaching the Moon for millennia — probably since the literal beginning of mankind — and less than nine months and two missions after accomplishing it, collective attention had faded to a shrug.
Of course, Apollo XIII encountered a near-fatal crisis, and the nation suddenly found itself interested again. Yet, even that surge of interest was short-lived. What NASA originally envisioned as 10 moon landings was reduced to 6 as debates over budget and impact became increasingly politicized, and Americans said goodbye to the moon.
For fifty years.
Now, finally, all of that is changing.
The Artemis program takes its name from Greek mythology, where Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo. Artemis II will carry the first woman, the first African American, and the first Canadian to lunar orbit — coming within roughly 5,000 miles of the Moon’s surface. If all goes as planned, Artemis III will return humans to the lunar surface later this decade, marking the first time anyone has walked on the Moon since Eugene Cernan said goodbye in December 1972.
Standing in front of Artemis II, I couldn’t stop thinking about that five-decade gap.
We went to the Moon… and then, almost immediately, we took it for granted. Our attention moved on.
And that pattern matters more than we like to admit.
Houston, We Got Indifferent
Apollo wasn’t just a space program, or a promise to a fallen president, or a tactical race against Russia. It was one of the most ambitious, complex, and hopeful undertakings in human history.
And even that couldn’t hold collective attention once it stopped feeling novel.
That realization is when it clicked for me: NASA’s single biggest threat isn’t failure. It’s apathy.
Apathy isn’t outrage, or criticism, or even disappointment. It’s indifference.
When people stop paying attention, momentum slows. Funding dries up. Stories stop being told. Ambition gets labeled “unnecessary.”
That’s true in space exploration—and it’s true everywhere else, too.
Ground Control to Business Leaders
In business, most brands don’t lose relevance because something goes catastrophically wrong. They lose it because customers stop feeling anything.
The extraordinary becomes familiar.
Familiar becomes expected.
Expected becomes invisible.
Apollo didn’t fail, it faded.
In fact, there are people who legitimately believe we never went to the Moon at all! Not the most concerning conspiracy theory our country is grappling with, admittedly, but a shocking one nonetheless.
Which is why I’m inviting you, personally, to care about Artemis II, and everything NASA is building behind it.
Not just because it’s a mission for all humanity (although it is) that will advance our understanding of the universe and our own planet (although it will), but because it has the power to unite us in an era when so much feels designed to divide us.
Your Mission (Please Choose To Accept!)
NASA makes it easy and fun to follow along. The launch window opens on February 6 — and it’s not too late to send your name on a virtual boarding pass aboard the flight!
Wonder has a half-life.
Attention is fragile — in space, and in business.
Success requires more than achievement. It requires storytelling. Context. An invitation.
People don’t stay engaged because something is objectively impressive. They stay engaged when someone helps them see their place in the story.
Apollo showed us what’s possible.
Artemis reminds us of a risk: If we don’t actively fight apathy, even moonshots can quietly disappear.
And that’s a lesson that applies far beyond space.
Want to see more photos from my trip? Check out this Instagram post.
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