'Moon joy' takes off as NASA embraces a new space-age catchphrase

"Fetch" is never going to happen. But "moon joy" just might. NASA began using the phrase "moon joy" all over its social media accounts as the Artemis II crew approached the moon this week. Now the agency has gone all in with a definition on the official NASA account on X, along with the ideal photo — its lunar adventurers looking adorably like the first fourple in space — leading into a video of moon joy moments. "The feeling of intense happiness and excitement that only comes from a mission to the moon" is how NASA defines moon joy (which sounds to us like it should be one word, but we'll wait for an official ruling from the AP Stylebook). The phrase has been used several times throughout the Artemis II mission. The first use NASA posted was on Sunday, April 5: a clip of the mission control communicator calmly replying to a litany of excited identification of lunar locations from astronaut Reid Wiseman aboard Orion. "Copy," mission control says with a chuckle. "Moon joy." One commenter on X called the phrase "the most perfectly understated response to astronauts losing their minds over seeing the moon up close for the first time." (Which calls to mind this classic 1969 moon landin