The four astronauts aboard NASA’s historic Artemis II mission reflected on their emotions and achievements during their first press conference from space on Wednesday as they prepared for a dramatic re-entry to Earth after becoming the farthest-travelling humans in history.
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Travelling aboard the Orion spacecraft, the crew is scheduled to splash down off the coast of Southern California on Friday after completing a nearly 10-day mission around the far side of the Moon.
During re-entry, the spacecraft is expected to reach speeds of approximately 38,365 kilometres per hour, with its heat shield facing extreme temperatures as it plunges through Earth’s atmosphere.
Mission pilot Victor Glover said he had been thinking about the return journey since being assigned to the mission in 2023, describing the experience of “riding a fireball through the atmosphere” as profound.
The Artemis II crew — consisting of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen — is leading the first crewed lunar mission of NASA’s Artemis programme.
The programme aims to return humans to the lunar surface later this decade and establish a long-term presence on the Moon as part of future plans for missions to Mars.
During the mission, the crew reached a record distance of approximately 252,000 miles from Earth, surpassing the previous record set by the Apollo 13 astronauts more than five decades ago.
Astronauts described several emotional moments during the journey, including brief calls with family members and a tribute to commander Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll, by suggesting a lunar crater be named in her honour.
Scientists on Earth have closely monitored the mission, viewing Artemis II as a critical step in expanding lunar research and understanding the Moon’s role in the formation of the solar system.
NASA plans to follow Artemis II with further missions involving lunar docking tests and eventual crewed landings, with Artemis IV currently targeted to deliver astronauts to the Moon’s surface in 2028.
