On the occasion of the launch of the NASA Artemis II mission on April 1, 2026, the Permanent Mission of the Holy See in Geneva has released a 15-minute video titled “Outer Space and Humanity at a Crossroads: A New Frontier of the Common Good.” It is a call for space exploration to be driven by a commitment to expand humanity’s reach into the heavens through peaceful cooperation.
The film opens with U.S. astronaut Col. Mike Hopkins describing the “overview effect,” that recognition that Earth is “our common home,” which astronauts recount as the effect of seeing the Earth from above, where what can be seen is not one border, but the thin atmosphere which protects us all. Experts from multiple institutions dedicated to the various aspects of space exploration speak of the enthusiasm that is generated by collaborating with their peers from other nations, while warning that “a war in space can never be won and should never be fought.” Several argue that no new treaties are needed to ensure space remains peaceful, but there must be a commitment to uphold and defend the peaceful principles of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. The travesty of the U.S. Space Command, created by President Donald Trump with the explicit mission of ensuring U.S. “superiority” and “domination” over space, by military means if necessary, was left unspoken.
