Thought For The Day – Friday 17^th April 2026

The above picture is titled “Hello, World“. It was taken on Artemis II by Commander Reid Wiseman when the mission was 142,000 miles (228,500 km) from Earth, and 132,000 miles from the Moon. It shows two auroras as the Earth eclipses the Sun, and the planet Venus glowing at the bottom of the image.

In a beautiful world that tragically all too often can be characterised by conflict and division, pilot Victor Glover gave an important unplanned perspective, whilst journeying away from Earth, with the Artemis II crew.

“As we are so far from Earth and looking at the beauty of creation, I think, for me, one of the really important personal perspectives that I have up here is I can really see the Earth as one thing.

You are talking to us because we’re in a spaceship really far from earth. But you are on a spaceship called Earth that was created to give us a place to live in the universe and the cosmos.

Maybe the distance we are from you makes you think what we’re doing is special, but we’re the same distance from you.

And I’m trying to tell you — just trust me — you are special.

In all of this emptiness — this is a whole bunch of nothing, this thing we call the universe — you have this oasis, this beautiful place that we get to exist together.

I think, as we go into Easter Sunday, thinking about all the cultures all around the world, whether you celebrate it or not, whether you believe in God or not, this is an opportunity for us to remember where we are, who we are, and that we are the same thing, and that we’ve have got to get through this together.”

Hello, World. Are you listening?