Bill Maher is less than enthused about the success of the Artemis II space mission to the moon and back.
“At a time where there’s a lot of tension going on here on Earth, this is kind of the feel-good story that has everybody excited,” the comedian said in the opening monologue of Friday’s episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher.”
“Wherever I go, ‘Bill, did you see the photos?’ Yeah, I saw them. Earth as I’ve always seen it.”
He added, “I just don’t get it. I mean… everybody’s like, if we’re on the moon, we can get to Mars. I don’t want to go there either… there’s nothing out there except other rocks. Let’s fix the s*** show here on Earth.”
Maher’s remarks were taped before the crew of the Artemis II returned safely to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific near San Diego just after 7 p.m. on Friday.
During the 10-day lunar fly-by mission, the four-person crew, consisting of astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen, surpassed the Apollo 13 record for farthest crewed spaceflight and captured views of the far side of the Moon.
This did not impress Maher, who went on to moan about space exploration later in his show.
“I’m not a fan of going to the moon,” he said, speaking to his guests Douglas Murray and Paul Rieckhoff. “Same question I’ve been asking since I was a kid. Why? Is it worth the money? What are we doing there? It’s just another big f****** rock.”
Maher added that the money used for the mission, estimated to be over $4 billion, could have been spent “more wisely” and described space travel as something for “rich people to do for fun.”
“By the way, it’s not outer space, it’s right next door. It’s nothing,” he said. “Here’s the universe, and we’re on the moon, 250 miles away. I have more miles on Delta… we’re not really getting anything from it.”
His remarks were criticized by Rieckhoff, who said the mission had been inspiring, since Artemis II had “gone further than any people have gone.”
“By 10 more miles. We’ve been to the moon before. We know [what it is],” Maher replied.
Maher’s reaction also struck a nerve over on Fox News, with commentator Charlie Hurt blasting the comedian for not recognizing the “magic” of the moon mission.
“I hate even giving them airtime, but maybe it’s worth paying some attention to goofballs like Bill Maher who would rather just sit around and I guess argue about politics on Earth,” Hurt said.
“Bill Maher’s among the least impressive people that I’ve ever listened to, but there are some people like him out there who look at this and don’t see the magic of this,” Hurt said.
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