FOUR astronauts aboard NASA’s Artemis II mission spoke candidly about the emotional and historic significance of their journey during the first press conference from space, as they prepared to return to Earth after a nearly 10-day voyage that took them farther than any humans have ever travelled.
Reuters reported on Thursday that the crew, flying in their Orion capsule since launching from Florida last week, are scheduled to splash down off the Southern California coast on Friday evening, completing a mission that included a flyby of the lunar far side, taking them roughly 252,000 miles from Earth — surpassing the Apollo 13 record set 56 years ago by some 4,000 miles.
On their return, the astronauts will endure re-entry at speeds reaching 23,839 mph (38,365 kph), subjecting Orion’s heatshield to intense friction as the spacecraft passes through Earth’s atmosphere.
“I've actually been thinking about entry since April 3, 2023 when we got assigned to this mission,” said Artemis II mission pilot Victor Glover. “There's so many more pictures, so many more stories, and gosh, I haven't even begun to process what we've been through. We've still got two more days, and riding a fireball through the atmosphere is profound as well.”
Joining Glover are NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman and Christina Koch, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
They represent the first wave of the Artemis programme, a multibillion-dollar initiative aiming to return humans to the lunar surface by 2028 and establish a sustainable U.S. presence to support future missions to Mars.
Koch described the mission as a relay race.
“In fact, we have batons that we bought to symbolize, physically, that. We plan to hand them to the next crew, and every single thing that we do is with them in mind,” she said.
The next Artemis mission, Artemis III, will test docking between Orion and astronaut lunar landers in low-Earth orbit, paving the way for the first crewed lunar landing under Artemis IV, targeted for 2028, and the first since Apollo 17 in 1972.
The Artemis II mission has not only been historic in terms of distance but has also delivered rare scientific insights.
During a six-hour flyby of the moon, the crew surveyed its surface from approximately 4,000 miles above, providing human observations in real time — a contrast to past studies reliant solely on satellites and Earth-based instruments.
Koch described the moon as a “witness plate” to the formation of the solar system, offering a unique opportunity to enhance understanding of planetary origins.
Beyond science, the crew experienced deeply personal moments.
Wiseman revealed that his colleagues suggested naming a newly observed lunar crater after his late wife, Carroll, who passed away in 2020.
“That was an emotional moment for me,” he said. “I said 'Absolutely, I would love that' ... but I can't give the speech. I can't give the talk.”
Hansen, moved by the gesture, conveyed the suggestion to mission control in a tearful radio transmission, creating a poignant moment for staff at NASA’s Houston Mission Control.
Amid these historic achievements, the astronauts managed brief family interactions during the mission.
“Hearing your crewmates giggling and crying, and just gasping and listening and loving their families from afar — family is so important to all four of us, and that has been amazing,” Wiseman said.
Artemis II represents both a record-setting journey and a critical stepping stone for NASA’s ambitions on the moon and beyond, combining human exploration, scientific discovery, and the emotional resonance of venturing farther into space than any humans in history. - April 9, 2026
