What the Artemis II crew shared in first remarks after return to Earth

CNN

By Jackie Wattles, Ashley Strickland, CNN

(Houston) — It was a hero’s welcome for the four-person Artemis II crew following a textbook splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Friday evening.

The astronauts arrived Saturday at Ellington Field at Johnson Space Center in Houston to cheers, a standing ovation and hugs from NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. The crewmates reunited with their families at the site for the first time since their historic 10-day journey around the moon concluded.

Isaacman referred to the mission as “the greatest adventure in human history.”

The crew — NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen — completed a record-breaking lunar flyby. The astronauts traveled deeper into space than any human had ventured before. The Artemis II mission was a test flight, serving as an experiment to lay the groundwork for future missions. But the moment of reuniting with their loved ones has been among the most anticipated steps of the crew’s journey.

“Victor, Christina and Jeremy, we are, we are bonded forever, and no one down here is ever going to know what the four of us just went through,” Wiseman said. “And it was the most special thing that will ever happen in my life.”

No place like planet Earth

Wiseman acknowledged that no one will truly know what the crew’s families went through.

“This was not easy being 200,000-plus miles away from home,” Wiseman said. “Like, before you launch it feels like it’s the greatest dream on Earth, and when you’re out there, you just want to get back to your families and your friends. It’s a special thing to be a human and it’s a special thing to be on planet Earth.” Wiseman was visibly choked up, and the four crewmembers stood to hug on stage.

Glover admitted he has not fully processed the entire mission and “what we just did” yet, but was full of gratitude.

“When this started, I wanted to thank God in public, and I want to thank God again, because even bigger than my challenge trying to describe what we went through, the gratitude of seeing what we saw, doing what we did, and being with who I was with, it’s too big to just be in one body,” Glover said.

“And I wanted to thank our families for everything,” he added. “I love you, but not just those five beautiful cocoa-skinned ladies right there,” Glover said, gesturing to his family. “All of you.”

‘You are a crew’

Koch shared that her nurse on the Navy recovery ship asked her for a hug last night, one of many great “human moments” that began and ended the mission, she said. Artemis II truly taught her the meaning of what it is to be part of a crew, Koch said.

“A crew is a group that is in it all the time, no matter what, that is stroking together every minute with the same purpose, that is willing to sacrifice silently for each other, that gives grace, that holds accountable,” Koch said. “A crew has the same cares and the same needs, and a crew is inescapably beautifully, dutifully linked.”

She said one of her strongest revelations came while observing Earth appear tiny through the window of Orion, and all of the blackness around it.

“I know I haven’t learned everything that this journey has yet to teach me,” Koch said. “But there’s one new thing I know, and that is planet Earth: You are a crew.”

Shared humanity and family ties

Hansen also noted that the human experience has been an extraordinary one for him and his crewmates — and seemed thrilled to learn it was the same way for everyone on Earth who followed the mission.

“We have a term in our crew that we coined a long time ago, the ‘joy train,’” Hansen said. “And it sounds like you saw a lot of joy up there. There was a lot of joy. We’re not always on the joy train, this crew, there are many times we’re not on the joy train, but we are committed to getting back on the joy train as soon as we can. And that is a useful life skill for any team trying to get something done.”

Hansen asked his crewmates to stand with him as he talked about love.

“What you saw was a group of people who loved contributing, having meaningful contribution and extracting joy out of that,” Hansen said. “And what we’ve been hearing is that was something special for you to witness. I would suggest to you that when you look up here, you’re not looking at us. We are a mirror reflecting you, and if you like what you see, then just look a little deeper. This is you.”

During the trip, the astronauts were able to speak with their spouses and children via brief, remote calls. Wiseman, the mission commander, said the experience of listening to his crewmates’ conversations while crammed together aboard the 16.5-foot-wide (5-meter-wide) Orion spacecraft was a remarkable bonding experience.

“Hearing your crewmates giggling and crying and just gasping and listening and loving their families from afar,” Wiseman said, has been the “neatest” bonding experience.

“Family is so important to all four of us, and that has been amazing,” Wiseman said during an April 8 dispatch from Orion.

Wiseman said he was moved to tears and could hardly speak when he first connected with his daughters from space. He is a widower, and during the mission, the crew proposed naming a lunar crater for his late wife, Carroll.

Looking to the future

Wiseman’s final words Saturday were for the NASA astronauts that had gathered in the auditorium.

“It is time to go and be ready,” Wiseman said, speaking of future space exploration. “Because it takes courage. It takes determination. And you all are freaking going, and we are going to be standing there supporting you every single step of the way in every possible way possible.”

Isaacman said that the Artemis II mission will always be remembered because it’s the moment when the crew, and people around the world, saw the moon again and “where childhood dreams became missions.” And it paves the way for future missions like Artemis III, expected to launch in 2027. The administrator noted that assembly of the Artemis III vehicle, and the announcement of that mission’s crew, will occur soon.

“The next crew will begin preparing to play their part as we return to the lunar surface, we build the base and we never give up the moon again,” Isaacman said.

Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, said the “moon joy” spread by the crew will empower and inspire a new generation to believe that their dreams are possible.

“It will lead countless students to become the next scientists, engineers, inventors, mathematicians and astronauts who will dare to forge new frontiers in space, and push the boundaries of what’s possible for the benefit of all,” Wyche said. “We often say that we stand on the shoulders of giants, and after seeing them return from this mission, I have to say their shoulders now seem even broader for the next generation to stand on.”

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