The world was over the moon on Friday as the four astronauts – NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen – who were on a 10-day flyby of the moon safely returned to Earth after a dramatic splashdown off the coast of San Diego, bringing with them lessons and experiences from their historic journey.
Breathtaking splashdown
The whole world was at the edge of their seat as they awaited a splashdown, but tension engulfed as the Orion spacecraft travelled 35 times the speed of sound and about 1,956 statute miles as it entered the Earth’s atmosphere.
At 7:53pm EDT, the spacecraft, dubbed Integrity, was swallowed by a layer of super-heated plasma during peak re-entry, triggering a planned communications blackout.
All attention was focused on the spacecraft’s heat shield, designed to endure high temperatures to keep the crew safe.
After six minutes of no communication, NASA reestablished contact with Artemis II, and at exactly 8:07pm, the Artemis II crew successfully completed a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego.
NASA hails ‘new era of space exploration’
NASA officials hailed the successful 10-day journey.
“We did it,” NASA’s Lori Glaze rejoiced at a news conference. “Welcome to our moonshot.”
NASA Orion program manager Howard Hu, meanwhile, described the mission as “the start of a new era of human space exploration”.
Associate NASA administrator Amit Kshatriya said the triumphant close of the historic journey proves that “the path to the lunar surface is open”.
“Fifty-three years ago, humanity left the moon. This time we returned to stay,” Kshatriya said.
“Let us finish what they started… Let us not go to plant flags and leave – but to stay.”
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Crew makes first public appearance
After a brief private reunion with their families, the crew joined their friends, loved ones, NASA colleagues, and journalists on Saturday for their first public appearance. The astronauts were greeted by applause as NASA administrator Jared Isaacman introduced them on stage.
Describing their journey, Reid Wiseman, the Artemis II commander, said their experience was “the most special thing that will ever happen in my life”.
If there was one word that could describe Victor Glover’s experience, it would be “gratitude”.
Speaking before journalists and colleagues, Glover said he was thankful for what they saw, what they did, and who he was with during the mission.
Jeremy Hansen also expressed gratitude to his family, NASA and its leadership, as well as the Canadian Space Agency.
“I don’t think people will really ever fully comprehend how well supported and trained we were. It is almost unbelievable,” he said.
Reflecting on her experience, Christina Koch called for people on Earth to embrace their humanity.
“What struck me wasn’t necessarily just Earth, it was all the surrounding blackness. Earth was just this lifeboat hanging disturbingly in the universe,” she said.
“There’s one new thing I know and that is Planet Earth – you are a crew.”
Acknowledging that what they did was for the sake of future missions, Wiseman imparted a powerful message to the world to just pause for a moment, “and remember that this is a beautiful planet and a very special place in our universe, and we should all cherish what we have been gifted”.
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Adam Peaker