Artemis II astronauts field questions after historic mission
The four Artemis II astronauts, fresh off a bold and risky mission, are taking questions Thursday for the first time since their return, reports BritPanorama.
NASA is livestreaming their news conference appearance, beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET, on the space agency’s YouTube channel. The crew — including NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen — has been back on Earth for one week after a history-making, slingshot trip around the moon, emerging as newly minted celebrities.
“When we came home, we were shocked at the global outpouring of support, of pride, of ownership of this mission,” Wiseman said. “That’s what the four of us wanted. We wanted to go out and try to do something that would bring the world together.”
The 10-day mission marked the first time astronauts have traveled to the moon since the final Apollo flight in 1972. Moreover, the crew ventured deeper into space than any human before, surpassing the Apollo 13 record set in 1970.
Glover, Koch, Hansen, and Wiseman captured striking images of the moon during their seven-hour flyby of the lunar surface, which occurred on the sixth day of their mission. Their journey and unprecedented glimpse of the moon’s far side captivated the public and provided valuable insights for science, according to NASA.
After years of training together and more than a week spent in space, the astronauts describe their relationship as more than merely crewmates. They have referred to each other as brothers and sisters, forever bonded by the trials and triumphs of their adventure — which included living in tight quarters aboard their 16.5-foot-wide Orion spacecraft, grappling with a broken toilet, and glancing back at Earth from over a quarter million miles away without radio communications.
“That’s the closest four humans can be and not be a family,” Wiseman remarked during opening remarks.
