Last week's Artemis II flight around the Moon has been all over the news, and with good reason.

It has been over 53 years since the last Apollo 17 mission left the Moon, and since then the manned space program was largely abandoned, with the exception of the International Space Station that floats in low Earth orbit. The Cold War was won and the necessity to explore the Moon and beyond was deemed too expensive. But human nature is built on curiosity and the urge to explore the unknown. It is in our DNA, it defines our species.

And now we have finally picked up the torch of that spirit again. A quiet but unmistakable return to what once drove us to dare mighty things. Spaceflight is becoming more and more commercialised, and when there is even a hint of turning it into huge profit, manned deep space flight comes back into the spotlight.

Not only did the Artemis II mission stir up the spirit of exploration again, its crew was able to take some of the most remarkable images of the Moon and, perhaps most importantly, of our beautiful planet Earth from a distance. A viewpoint that truly puts our planet back into perspective, in times when this is perhaps needed most.

The fitting epithet Blue Marble, as coined by the Apollo 17 crew that last visited the Moon, in its full glory perfectly describes planet Earth. A tiny, vulnerable and precious little ball floating through the unimaginable vastness of empty space.

I cannot wait to see what is in store for us in the coming years and centuries.

Because this is what we do.
We explore.