Is NASA that desperate to find something good to say about the  Artemis II mission that they have to inflate the accomplishments? Are they that desperate to demonstrate that they have actually accomplished something?

Apollo 8 travelled 248,655 miles (400,171 kilometers), Artemis II travelled 252,757 miles (406,773 kilometers) ….4102 miles farther…or about 1.6% farther than Apollo 8.

Artemis II made ONE orbit around the moon, Apollo 8 made 8 orbits (real orbits of the mooon)

And Apollo 8 did it 58 years ago…..Before advanced composites, before supercomputers….Hell, you have a computer in your cell phone that is more powerful than all the computers used for the Apollo missions. Combined

But NASA still trumpets a “Record Breaking” mission that is all of 4102 miles farther than what was accomplished (for the FIRST TIME) nearly 60 years ago as if it were a groundbreaking feat. I find it sad that they need to trumpet this as some incredible feat.

Make no mistake, it is an accomplishment. Putting humans into space and keeping them alive while flying past the moon is a wonderful feat and bringing them back alive  But it isn’t all that much more than what was accomplished nearly three generations ago with lesser technology by better men (and women) on the team who didn’t need a participation trophy.

ETA: jerseyGirl has an excellent comment