NASA astronaut Mike Fossum, Expedition 29 commander, performs a muscle self-scan in the Columbus laboratory of the International Space Station. Around the world, people watched NASA’s Artemis II mission in awe as humans returned to lunar orbit for the first time since 1972. As a physician and space medicine researcher, I watched life aboard the mission spacecraft Orion — where four astronauts worked, ate, exercised and managed personal hygiene in a tiny capsule — with curiosity. Questions race