India, April 13 -- I was just a little girl when the first man landed on the moon. We did not have a television set at home and there certainly was no internet. It was perhaps through hearing my parents talk about newspaper articles, or listening to the news on the radio at dinner time, that the event made its impact. For a while, my best friend Satya Rao and I gave up our dolls to play astronauts, with make-believe landings and flights of wonder.

From then to now, I cannot even begin to imagine what it must mean to millions of girls, and boys, to watch Artemis II on its 10-day voyage, flying 406,771 km from earth, the farthest ever for human space travel. This time, however, the imagination it sparks is different. It's no longer just ab...