Easter 2026 will be remembered for Easter Monday, the day that Artemis II flew around the Moon

Every Easter is a memorable feast – what is more remarkable than the promise of resurrection? But of course Easter 2026 will be remembered for Easter Monday, the day that Artemis II flew around the Moon. By an odd coincidence the timing is reminiscent of Apollo 8 with the first human crew to circle the Moon, which happened on Christmas Eve, 1968.

I was in high school in 1968. In the United States, it was a terrible year – Vietnam, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, violent demonstrations in Chicago at the Democratic National Convention. Detroit, my home town, was living through the bitter aftermath of race riots. And the times in Europe were no calmer. But 1968 was also the year when humanity finally reached the Moon. It put the trials of the time into a completely different perspective.

Apollo 8 gave us astronauts reading from Genesis during their live broadcast to Earth; and that iconic image, taken by accident, that’s come to be known as “Earthrise” – the half-illuminated Earth seen above the lunar horizon. That photo hangs at the Vatican Observatory headquarters in Castel Gandolfo; Apollo 8 astronaut Frank Borman gave us a copy when he visited in February 1969.

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