New Delhi, April 9 -- Three words uttered from Mission Control to Reid Wiseman, commander of Artemis II, perfectly capture the groundswell of emotion many of us have experienced over the past week as a team of astronauts flew beyond the previous reaches of human space travel: "Amaze. Amaze. Amaze."

That line, borrowed from the hero of the science-fiction blockbuster Project Hail Mary, came as Wiseman took in, for the first time, the full majestic scale of the moon. Our nearest neighbour and nightly companion loomed large before them, looking several times bigger than home, which was a mere crescent off in the distance.

Less than an hour earlier, at roughly 1:56pm Eastern US time, Wiseman and his three fellow crew members had broken the ...