Post by Nikita Gontschar

In two weeks, on February 6, 2026, the launch window opens for Artemis II 🚀 — the first crewed journey back toward the Moon 🌖 in more than 50 years. We spent the Christmas season and New Year’s in Florida — a rare pause to slow down, spend time as a family, and look at big things from a bit more distance. Perspective doesn’t always come from speed. 🐌 At the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, excellence shows up long before liftoff. The most powerful machine on site — the crawler that carries the rocket to the launch pad — moves at less than one mile per hour. Four miles. Twelve hours. Not because speed is impossible, but because when failure is not an option, precision comes first. Then the superlatives start to unfold: The Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), one of the largest buildings on Earth 🌎 by volume, so vast it creates its own micro-climate. A U.S. flag 🇺🇸 on its façade larger than a football field. A place where #Apollo missions were assembled — and where the next chapter is quietly taking shape. That next chapter is #Artemis, the next crewed lunar mission of the NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration. For the first time since 1972, humans will leave low Earth orbit and travel back toward the Moon. Not yet to land — but to go farther than ever before: looping around the Moon, flying past its far side, reaching roughly 400,000 kilometers from Earth. The return to the lunar surface is planned to follow in 2027/28. What makes Artemis particularly compelling is not just ambition — it’s #continuity and #collaboration. The European Space Agency - ESA contributes the European Service Module (ESM). Built by Airbus Defence and Space 🇪🇺 in #Bremen, it provides propulsion, power, air and water to the #Orion spacecraft. Navigation through deep space relies on star trackers 🌌 from Jena-Optronik GmbH. And beyond navigation, German expertise plays a critical role in astronaut safety: the German Aerospace Center (DLR), with scientists such as Dr. Thomas Berger, leads advanced radiation measurements in deep space — work that is essential for protecting crews on missions beyond Earth’s magnetic field. It naturally raises the question whether European astronauts — perhaps even Alexander Gerst 🇩🇪 — may become part of this new lunar era. Many of the principles on display translate to leadership and business. Enduring excellence is rarely built in dramatic moments. It grows through continuity, perseverance, and the courage to explore — paired with the discipline to prepare long before anyone is watching. The biggest missions aren’t rushed. Sometimes, the slowest movement carries you the farthest. #NASA #ESA #MoonLanding #SpaceExploration #Leadership #EngineeringExcellence #Adventure #LongTermThinking OMEGA SA Peter Kapell Steffen Schwarz #Space #Aviation Airbus René Obermann