ARTEMIS 1: ORION - 2022
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PROGRAM NOTE
ARTEMIS 1 - ORION celebrates the first of many trips back to the moon. Between 1969 and 1972, NASA landed 12 United States astronauts on the moon through the Apollo missions, but Apollo 17 in 1972, marked the final of those manned lunar missions. In 2017 however, the Artemis program was established to return us to the moon. Since then, over twenty countries have signed on as partners in this mission back to the moon. Growing up, space fascinated me like it did many others, and my parents can attest that my favorite childhood toys and books often concerned space exploration and the cosmos. Even into adulthood, I am intrigued by the newest and latest discoveries of our universe. In the past, reading books and watching movies concerning the Apollo Missions and the Space Race always carried a bittersweet sense of awe and wonder. I yearned for those moments to exist in my lifetime. But now, we have taken the first steps back to the moon. On November 16th, 2022, the unmanned Orion launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Over the next 25.5 days, Orion performed two flybys and stress tested the capabilities of the module, reaching distances 270,000 miles away from Earth. After a 1.4 million mile journey, Orion returned home to Earth and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on December 11th, exactly fifty years after the last lunar landing in 1972. I watched the Orion live feed as it returned to Earth while simultaneously finishing this piece of music, which I had begun writing the day of the launch. Artemis 1 - Orion is a celebration of our return to the moon in the first of a series of missions that will eventually see the establishment of a permanent lunar base and potentially serve as a blueprint for our inevitable future colonization of Mars. For now though, I am left with a sense of wonder and excitement over the first step we've taken and the next one to come. DEDICATION Artemis 1 - Orion is for my high school band director, Benjamin Baldwin and the Holly High School Band. I attended high school in Holly and spent three years as a student of Mr. Baldwin before pursuing my careers as both band director and composer. Mr. Baldwin continues to be a fantastic mentor and inspiration for what I strive to be as a teacher and also happens to be a huge space guru and amateur astronomer. I will always have fond memories of him bringing his giant telescope to marching band camp and zooming in on the moon, planets and distant galaxies. This piece is written for and dedicated to him as a thank you. |
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