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Artemis II Rocket Launch Interrupts Incredible Home Run Robbery During Florida Softball Game

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Artemis II Rocket Launch Moon College Softball Stetson Florida
Stetson Athletics

The college softball game between Florida and Stetson underwent a brief delay for the launch of Artemis II. Players, umpires, coaches and fans collectively agreed not to continue play until the lunar-bound spacecraft was out of the earth’s atmosphere.

It was a moment that became bigger than the sport.

No matter how this college softball season turns out for these two squads, they will always remember the time they played during a rocket launch. That is almost as cool as playing in Oklahoma City. Almost.

Artemis II launched from Florida to the Moon.

Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen are on their way to the Moon. Kind of. The astronauts embarked on a 10-day mission to circle Earth and the Moon. They will not stop on the planet but it will mark the first time humans have traveled beyond the low Earth orbit in over 50 years.

This mission essentially serves as a test run for a planned Moon landing in 2028. It will test the Orion capsule’s life-support systems and practice the free-return trajectory used by Apollo 13.

What that means is that Artemis II will use the gravity of the Moon to slingshot its spacecraft back toward Earth. The free-return trajectory does not require additional fuel for the return leg, which ensures that the crew will return home even if major propulsion systems should fail and allows the crew to focus on testing its systems instead of navigating a powered flight home.

Orion will fly two orbits of the Earth before it ventures around the Moon in a figure-eight pattern and eventually returns to Earth. The entire 10-day mission will look something like this:

You can watch live here:

The launch took place at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday evening.

The Kennedy Space Center is located ~65 miles from Stetson University.

Stetson paused its college softball game to watch the rocket.

No. 6-ranked Florida traveled to DeLand, Florida for the second game of a home-and-home midweek series on Wednesday. The Gators ultimately defeated the top-ranked college softball team in the ASUN by a final score of 2-8. It is a game the Hatters will not soon forget despite the crushing defeat.

The incredible sequence of events started with a home run robbery in the top of the fourth inning.

Stetson senior Gia Napoli prevented Florida from launching a ball into orbit but she could not stop Artemis II from blasting off into outer space. Both teams agreed to briefly stop play in the bottom half of the inning while the rocket flew high over Patricia Wilson Field.

The entire stadium turned toward the third base line to get a good look.

It was a remarkable moment that nobody in attendance will soon forget. These players will be able to tell their friends, family, kids and grandkids about the time they played college softball during a mission to the moon. That rules.