I had the launch on TV in the background and it made me think back to Apollo 13.
Back in the day when the Apollo launches occurred there was understandable initial excitement at the prospect of travelling to the moon and all that it entailed. But after a while that excitement seemed to wain a bit, there wasn't the interest shown as each launch / return home was completed, it was seen as an almost vanity project that was wasting money.
Apollo 13 launch wasn't really watched that much, a sort of "oh not again" attitude prevailed, probably to do with the costs involved and what else was happening in the world at the time.
Then came the accident and that (no pun intended) reignited the interest and excitement and caused those people who had dismissed it or ignored "another" rocket to the moon as something that had to be watched due to the lives left hanging in the balance...a kind of "will they survive?" that til then was only seen in Hollywood movies and where every expert was rolled out to give their ideas on what happened and if the astronauts will make it back in one piece.
Artemis II hasn't really reignited the interest of space exploration, some may even feel that it is a technological step back....it started with rockets, then went to reusable shuttles and now back to rockets again.
Oddly and in some ways similar to Apollo 13 lack of interest, the issues with the toilet on board Artemis II has garnered more coverage than the entire expedition itself - and example of this being, reading in the comments section of one of the MSM...."was the toilet made by the same firm that made the toilets on the Ford aircraft carrier and was the important message conveyed to the astronauts to the effect of don't use the laundryroom".
Through no fault of NASA's timing, the Artemis II has been totally overshadowed by other events that are deemed to be more important so even when the world needs something exciting to watch and something to be proud of, it has totally missed that mark.