NASA astronauts receive hero’s welcome in Houston after record-breaking mission
Marcia Dunn
Houston: Artemis II astronauts, still fascinated by their lunar missions, were given a rapturous welcome home on Saturday (Sunday AEST) by hundreds of people joining NASA’s record-breaking return to the moon for deep space travel.
The four-person crew flew from San Diego to Ellington Field near NASA’s Johnson Space Center and Mission Control Center, where they touched down just offshore the previous evening.
After a brief reunion with their wives and children, commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Jeremy Hansen emerged onto the hangar stage, surrounded by space center employees and other invited guests. They were introduced by NASA administrator Jared Isaacman, who was among the first to welcome them aboard the rescue ship on Friday (Saturday AEST).
“Ladies and gentlemen, your crew of the Artemis II,” Isaacman said to a standing ovation.
The enthusiastic crowd included flight directors and launch directors, Orion capsule and rover system managers, high-ranking military officers, members of Congress, the space agency’s entire corps of blue-suit astronauts and even retirees and more.
Their homecoming was poignant: They returned to NASA’s Houston base on the 56th anniversary of the Apollo 13 launch; The refrain, “Houston, we had a problem,” nearly turned disaster into victory.
Commander Reid Wiseman said the mission was “the most special thing I’ve ever experienced in my life.”
“This wasn’t easy,” an emotional Wiseman said. “Before you launch, it feels like it’s the biggest dream in the world. And when you get there, you just want to go back to your family and friends. Being human is a special thing, and being on planet Earth is a special thing.”
Glover added: “I haven’t processed what we just did yet and I’m scared to even start trying.”
Hansen said the four of them embodied love and were “enjoying it” as they stood in a line and hugged each other.
“When you look here, you are not looking at us. We are a mirror that reflects you. And if you like what you see, look a little deeper. This is you.”
During Artemis II’s nearly 10-day mission, astronauts traveled deeper than lunar explorers of decades ago and captured views of the far side of the moon never before seen by human eyes. A total solar eclipse was added to the cosmic wonder.
‘Honestly, it wasn’t just the Earth that affected me, it was all the darkness around it. ‘Earth was nothing more than a lifeboat suspended undisturbed in the universe.’
Christina Koch, Artemis II astronaut
In their record-breaking flight, the astronauts reached a maximum distance of 406,771 kilometers from Earth before eclipsing Apollo’s 13 distance records by performing a U-turn behind the Moon.
The mission also revealed a new side of our planet with an Earthset photo showing our Blue Marble environment behind a gray, flower-patterned moon. The image was an echo of the famous 1968 Earthrise image taken by the world’s first lunar visitors on Apollo 8.
“Honestly, it wasn’t just the Earth that impressed me, it was all the darkness around it. The Earth was just a lifeboat hanging undisturbed in the universe,” Koch said. “Planet Earth, you are a team.”
Despite the successes, the Artemis II astronauts had to deal with a more mundane problem: a malfunctioning space toilet. NASA has promised a design fix before longer moon landing missions.
Wiseman, Glover, Koch and Hansen were the first people to fly to the moon since Apollo 17 concluded NASA’s first era of lunar exploration in 1972. During Apollo, 24 astronauts flew to the moon and 12 astronauts walked on the lunar surface.
Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell, who also flew on Apollo 8, applauded the Artemis II crew in a wake-up call recorded before he died last summer.
It was very important for NASA that Artemis II went well. The space agency is already preparing for next year’s Artemis III mission; In this mission, a new team will practice docking its capsule with a lunar lander in orbit around Earth. This will set the stage for the pivotal Artemis IV moon landing in 2028, when two astronauts attempt to land near the moon’s south pole.
