The Artemis II spacecraft splashes down.

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They called it the view from inside the capsule.  The Artemis II crew waves.

They said they were showing the view from the solar arrays of the capsule.

They exclaimed the capsule has exceeded Apollo 13th distance from the Earth.

They informed us when the capsule had made its closest approach to the Moon.  And there’s the capsule, with the Earth growing behind it.  They worried with us about the capsule’s heat shield withstanding 5,000 degrees (F) on reentry.  They showed the capsule descending, the capsule on main chutes, the capsule splashing down.  “Stable 1”  The Artemis II crew exits the capsule.

Capsule, capsule, capsule — everyone kept calling it a capsule.  From the grave, the Mercury astronauts are shaking their shriveled fists.  They hated the word attached to them — the astronauts of the tiny Mercury capsule.  When Gemini came along, the word was banished.  This is not a capsule NASA and the astronauts proclaimed; it’s a spacecraft.  A spacecraft is able to change orbit, maneuver, rendezvous and dock.  Gemini was a spacecraft.  Apollo was a spacecraft, the word capsule never uttered.  In the name of Gus Grissom, remember the past.  When Apollo 1 caught fire, the crew did not call, “Fire in the capsule.”  They shouted “Fire in the spacecraft.”

Orion, the spacecraft of the Artemis program, is not a capsule.  Let’s ban the word once more.  Relegate it to the people hawking vitamins and supplements.