Out of the three pavilions I went to, the most significant would be the US Pavillion. They had English speaking tours on the hour, so we got to skip the other long lines. Instead, we got in a “pre-line” around 2:15pm and attended the 3pm tour. The pavilion followed a mascot named star that sang songs about innovation and forming connections. The pavilion mainly showed cool graphics and videos on screens and didn’t go into much depth about the Artemis program or going back to the moon. There was also another section that just played videos of American cities. However, the only thing I learned was that the US had plans to go back to the moon. I’ve been curious why they haven’t gone back since 1969. Perhaps they never had any financial incentives or anything, but now there’s news of the US president cutting NASA’s budget even more. I don’t really understand the reasoning behind that decision or if it’s to allow private companies a way. After visiting the pavilion and watching the cool videos, I decided to do a bit more research into the Artemis Program. The end goal is to set up a base on the moon to eventually go to mars. That sounds very cool, but I’m not sure if that’s what the US needs right now. Additionally, the pavilion discussed forming partnerships and connections, but to my knowledge the US isn’t on the best of terms with many countries right now. The pavilion seemed a bit contradictory to what the US was actually pursuing, and it seemed leave a bad taste in my mouth.
Furthermore, I never even heard of the Artemis program before visiting the US expo, but to be fair I don’t really follow space. However, I felt like if it was US’s priority I would have heard about it. I also thought that the pavilion would address the Earth’s issues like climate change, violence, or the political polarization that plagues America. I believe that America should be going to space and doing so with good intention. Another thing the pavilion should have addressed is the growing issue of space debris, and how it can be addressed to promote sustainable space development. I do think that the US pavilion was out of touch with the current US climate, but it also sort of inspired me. I really did enjoy the cool graphics and songs, and I hope that the Artemis program will succeed. I think that the US can be a power for good again and bring about awesome changes like a base on the moon. Hopefully, this program can bring about good news that will help unite our country.