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Artemis II Astronauts Share Experiences from Historic Lunar Flyby Mission
The four Artemis II astronauts held a press conference to discuss their 10-day mission around the moon, highlighting views of the lunar far side and a solar eclipse. They described emotional moments and the spacecraft's performance during reentry. The mission tested NASA's Orion capsule and Space Launch System rocket for future lunar landings.
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The Artemis II crew, consisting of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, spoke at a press conference on Thursday at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. They described their experiences from the mission, which launched on April 1 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida and concluded with a splashdown on April 10 in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego.
The flight marked the first crewed test of the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket.
The astronauts traveled farther from Earth than any previous humans, reaching a distance of 252,756 miles. They flew around the far side of the moon on April 6, observing terrain not visible from Earth and witnessing a solar eclipse lasting nearly an hour. The mission covered a total distance of nearly 700,000 miles.
During the flyby, the crew photographed the moon's cratered landscape and experienced a three-dimensional view of stars, the moon, and Earth.
Hansen noted the depth perception of the galaxy, describing it as mind-blowing. The solar eclipse produced a ghostly glow around the lunar horizon, which Wiseman called otherworldly. >"When the sun eclipsed behind the moon, I turned to Victor and I said I don't think humanity has evolved to the point of being able to comprehend what we're looking at right now.
" — Reid Wiseman, Thursday (CBS News) The crew proposed naming two lunar craters: one Integrity, after their spacecraft, and the other Carroll, in honor of Wiseman's late wife who died of cancer in 2020. This dedication was planned by Glover, Koch, and Hansen before launch.
Upon reentry, the Orion capsule entered Earth's atmosphere at over 24,000 mph, with the crew observing a fireball outside the spacecraft.
Wiseman reported a smooth ride despite minor char loss from the heat shield, which showed no major damage upon initial inspection. NASA officials stated the reentry trajectory differed from a 2022 unpiloted test to address prior heat shield issues. After splashdown, the astronauts underwent medical evaluations aboard a Navy recovery ship.
