My sappiness is a personality trait I have displayed with pride and without apology on this blog for many years.

My eyes get wet when I see historical events over and over: Muhammad Ali lighting the Olympic flame in 1996; Barack Obama declaring victory in the 2008 presidential election; the moon landing in July 1969.

I want to revisit briefly the final item I just listed. I watched a Netflix documentary titled “Apollo 11,” our nation’s first successful space mission that landed on the moon. Hey, I know how it turns out. But still, my eyes welled up when I heard Neil Armstrong declare, “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”

Today I made a decision as I watched the documentary film. It is that I want to cry again at our nation’s scientific know-how. It will come eventually when we send men back to the moon aboard another rocket, the Artemis ship that is being prepared to launch from Florida. The first mission won’t end with a moon landing, but the program eventually send astronauts to the moon for lengthy stays.

A long time ago, my mother and I would watch the Mercury astronauts lift off as the nation began its first baby steps toward space exploration. We continued to watch the missions of the Gemini program that succeeded Mercury. Then came Apollo. I wasn’t able to watch all of the Apollo missions with Mom, as I was serving in the Army. But I still cried when they were completed successfully.

We walked away from the moon missions. Skylab came and went. Then we had the shuttle missions. I cried when the three astronauts burned to death on Apollo 1 in January 1967. And when Challenger blew up moments after liftoff in January 1986. And when Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry in February 2003.

Artemis represents another “giant leap for mankind” when it will soar toward the moon. NASA’s goal is to use the moon to prep for missions to Mars. Oh, man … I hope I live long enough to see the first Mars mission lift off.

I am sick and tired of being angry at world events. I want desperately to cheer for some seriously positive — and heroic — deeds from ordinary men and women.

I want to cry tears of joy again.

Americans of a certain age — which is a sort of code for “old folks” like me — recall a time when we waited with bated breath for space ships to launch from Florida en route to outer space.

It’s going to happen again, I believe. NASA has revealed the names of the crew to fly aboard the Artemis space ship in 2024. Its destination? The moon!

The Artemis II team will be made up of three Americans — Victor Glover, Christina Hammock Koch and Reid Wiseman — and one Canadian, Jeremy Hansen.

OK, it’s going to be a fly-by. A practice run preparing the space agency to land astronauts later on the moon’s surface as part of its preparation for eventually sending men and women to Mars.

I intend to await the launch when it occurs. I likely will awaken early that morning and watch on TV as NASA counts down prior to the ship firing and sailing away on its mission to the moon. For me, it’s going to be like the old days during the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. Mom and I would wait endlessly for the launches. It was the highest drama possible.

The last Apollo mission flew in 1975. It was an Earth-orbit flight that hooked up with a Soviet space ship. The most recent moon landing occurred in 1972. Then NASA canceled the moon-landing program, citing lack of money and a reported lack of interest among Americans.

I do hope the interest returns to the public that needs an event such as this to cheer. I intend to be one of the cheerleaders.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com