NATIONWIDE — As millions watch the historic Artemis II rocket head into space on Wednesday, days later, many more people will be looking to the skies again in the hopes of catching the Orion capsule.

It’s the Summer of 1969. Pearl Kantrowitz, a Brooklyn mother and housewife, takes the annual trip north to a Catskills bungalow colony just as the world begins to shift beneath her feet. The country ...