All articles tagged with #moon mission
Artemis II’s four astronauts—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen—made a record-breaking return after a ten-day mission that took them a peak 252,756 miles from Earth, the farthest humans have traveled. Beyond the technical feat, their postflight messages center on personal connections, nature, and teamwork—calling old friends, appreciating the natural world, and embracing failure—rather than space-themed slogans.
Artemis II’s crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen—told MSNBC’s Morning Joe that the historic lunar mission sparked a global moment of unity: the world paused to watch, inspiring hope for humanity. They credited decades of NASA work and international collaboration (including Hansen as the first Canadian to orbit the Moon and Glover as the first Black astronaut to do so) and Koch’s reminder that this was the culmination of years of dreams. The astronauts underscored that a shared sense of positivity and cooperation on Earth matters as much as the journey to the Moon.
NASA astronaut Christina Koch describes her postflight recovery after Artemis II, recounting a wobble during a blindfold balance test and highlighting how microgravity disrupts balance, proprioception, and early readaptation. Her roughly 10-day Moon mission—alongside Artemis II crewmates Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Jeremy Hansen—is being monitored to study recovery, with NASA-backed countermeasures (exercise gear, diet, supplements) and mental health support helping astronauts readjust to Earth as scientists track short- and long-term physiological changes.
NASA rolled out the Space Launch System core stage for Artemis III, a 212-foot-tall rocket section built by Boring and L3Harris, marking a key step toward the first crewed lunar landing in more than 50 years. The core stage will power Artemis III’s mission, slated for 2027, with final assembly on Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center after its transport from Michoud.
PBS's NOVA documentary Return to the Moon, focused on Artemis II, aired on TV on April 15 and is now streaming in full on YouTube, offering an in-depth look at the mission's planning, crew, and the engineering challenges of a crewed lunar flyby.
Six days after Artemis II completed its lunar loop and returned to Earth, the crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen—told reporters at Johnson Space Center that landing astronauts on the Moon is the next major objective, with Wiseman joking that a first-flight lander aboard could have several crewmates lining up to try a lunar landing.
The Artemis II quartet—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen—took questions at a Johnson Space Center briefing after a 10-day lunar flyby and homecoming, livestreamed by NASA. They described the high-speed reentry and possible heat shield char loss but called the ride largely smooth, discussed the intense mental and emotional strain of deep-space flight, and praised their crew bond, while underscoring NASA’s plans to push toward a sustained lunar presence and bolder exploration.
Artemis II pilot Victor Glover returned to League City, Texas, to a cheering crowd after a 10-day, 695,000-mile mission that saw the crew become the first to view the Moon's far side; Christina Koch became the first woman on the Moon, Glover the first Black astronaut on the Moon, and Jeremy Hansen the first non-U.S. citizen to do so, while Glover urged neighbors to be more neighborly and to love one another.
Artemis 2 crew—Victor Glover, Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman and Jeremy Hansen—celebrated after a Pacific splashdown that ended a 10-day lunar flyby, marking NASA's first crewed lunar mission since Apollo and signaling progress toward the Artemis program.
Artemis 2 commander Reid Wiseman reportedly defied NASA’s post-splashdown checklist by keeping Rise, the mission’s zero‑gravity mascot, with him rather than leaving it behind; Rise rode back to Earth and accompanied the crew to land, later appearing in photos with Wiseman. A social post noted Rise was named Carroll after Wiseman’s late wife and a crater naming was proposed in her honor, with the final disposition of Rise to be determined by NASA policy.
Astronaut Victor Glover publicly thanked God after Artemis II’s historic return from a lunar mission farther from Earth than any in history, highlighting teamwork, support from families and NASA, and saying the undertaking was “too big to be in one body.”
Artemis II astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen returned to Houston after a nearly 10-day mission that flew farther from Earth than Apollo 13, offered new views of the lunar far side (including an Earthset image), and cemented NASA's path to Artemis III and IV, while noting a space-toilet malfunction NASA promised to fix.
Victor Glover, Artemis II pilot, reunited with his wife and five daughters at Ellington Field after a 10‑day mission near the Moon, expressing gratitude to God and love for his family and all who followed the mission. Artemis II was the first crewed near‑lunar test since Apollo 17 in 1972, and the crew traveled farther from Earth than any humans while witnessing a solar eclipse from behind the Moon.
NASA’s Artemis II mission ends with the Orion capsule splashing down in the Pacific off San Diego after a 10-day lunar flyby, bringing the crew of four—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen—home and making them the latest to travel beyond low Earth orbit. The mission set a distance record of about 252,756 miles from Earth, tested life support, radiation detectors and future deep-space gear, and included moments of emotion and teamwork as the crew prepared for a 2028 crewed Moon landing while NASA plans the next steps at Johnson Space Center before a Houston reunion with families.
NASA will validate Artemis II’s direct reentry from the Moon using a multi-aircraft chase and on-board sensors to study heat shield performance, a plan developed after Artemis I’s heat-shield crack.