Mr. Schmemann, an Opinion writer, is a former Moscow, Bonn and Jerusalem bureau chief of The Times.

Like any great adventure, and especially one we can follow minute by minute, act by act, the flight of Artemis II, which is ending on Friday, has been gripping theater. That cramped cabin cluttered with hoses, equipment and bolts, the glimpses of a small, blue-and-white Earth in the distance, the astronaut Christina Koch’s floating hair, the sense that a new era of grand and perilous space exploration has begun — all make for a feeling of wonder and exultation at a time we badly need it.

But try as I might, I cannot resist the voice that keeps whispering, Yes, but we’ve been there before. I am of a generation (read: old) for which the first landing on the moon in July 1969 was a life-changing event........

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