Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Celebrating Artemis II 🚀—a milestone for humanity. But there’s a harder question beneath the surface.
A 2025 report by the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft reveals that between 2020–2024, the Pentagon awarded $771 billion to its top five defense contractors—Lockheed Martin, RTX Corporation, Boeing, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman.
That’s more than double what the U.S. spends on diplomacy and foreign aid.
At the same time, these very companies power groundbreaking missions like the Artemis program.
So where do we draw the line?
Can companies tied to global conflict also lead humanity’s greatest scientific achievements?
Or is this contradiction something we’ve learned to ignore?
Celebrating Artemis II 🚀—a milestone for humanity. But there’s a harder question beneath the surface.
A 2025 report by the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft reveals that between 2020–2024, the Pentagon awarded $771 billion to its top five defense contractors—Lockheed Martin, RTX Corporation, Boeing, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman.
That’s more than double what the U.S. spends on diplomacy and foreign aid.
At the same time, these very companies power groundbreaking missions like the Artemis program.
So where do we draw the line?
Can companies tied to global conflict also lead humanity’s greatest scientific achievements?
Or is this contradiction something we’ve learned to ignore?
