Mike Waltz gifts Artemis II crew MAGA-inspired hats as they reflect on mission

Following their return to Earth after a historic 10-day lunar flight, the Artemis II crew spoke with US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz, describing the mission as an “amazing” experience.

The crew — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen — returned to Earth on April 10 and splashed down off the coast of San Diego after their journey around the Moon, breaking the limit set by Apollo 13 in 1970 and setting a new record for the farthest distance traveled by humans in space.

Waltz gifted the crew with “MUNGA” or “Make the UN Great Again” hats inspired by President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.

Waltz asked the crew what they thought when they looked at Earth from space.

ARTEMIS II PILOT VICTOR GLOVER PRAISED GOD AFTER RETURN, SAID THE MISSION WAS ‘TOO BIG TO BE IN ONE BODY’

“As a crew, we wanted to go for everyone and for everyone,” Wiseman said at the UN headquarters in New York. “And we wanted to set the stage for Artemis III. We wanted to set the space agency on this world for Artemis III and IV. But in the end, we really wanted to connect with humanity. We wanted humanity to pause for a moment and see that this world can still do something extraordinarily good when it puts its mind to it.”

Artemis III is expected to be released next year, and Artemis IV is targeted for release the following year.

“You asked how he felt, and it wasn’t just one emotion throughout the entire mission,” Glover told Waltz. “What we saw out the window was changing, and that’s one of the unique things… I always felt the urge to be grateful for what we saw and to be grateful for what we would eventually come back to. And the other thing was how lucky we were to have that.”

Looking back at Earth, Koch said the surrounding darkness made the planet feel “more special than ever.”

Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman, Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch, Artemis II pilot Victor Glover, and Artemis II mission specialist Jeremy Hansen look over the Nasdaq Market Site in Times Square in New York City. (Adam GRAY/AFP via Getty Images)

“Instead of this absolute background that’s everywhere for us, because that’s all we have, it makes the lines that we redraw on it look big and important,” he said. “You know that there is actually nothing certain or guaranteed about this, that there is actually such a thing as a global scale. I said this for the first time at the UN, but the truth is that the global scale is our world and it is our choice what we do with it.”

Hansen described the experience of seeing the vastness of space and feeling both small as an individual and energized by what humanity can achieve together.

“It was this weird thing, like stars, where some stars seem to be closer than others in our galaxy. And it kept catching my eye, and it made me feel very small, really small, as an individual. But at the same time, I was out there experiencing it, too, and it made me feel very powerful as a human race. What we can do together, the fact that we’re there, and it’s something that’s been really heartwarming since we got back to Earth, and we started to see how many people stopped to watch the mission, and it resonates with that,” he said.

Glover also recalled many emotions associated with the mission, including the “amazing moment” of returning to Earth.

WE FACE A TOILET PROBLEM WHEN ARTEMIS II ASTRONAUTS SET TOWARDS THE MOON

Artemis II astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen flank President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD FOX NEWS APPLICATION

During his visit to the UN, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman wanted to take some time to assess how far they had come, noting that it wasn’t that long ago that Trump established the Artemis program, which led to the Artemis II mission.

“In fact, President Trump established the Artemis Accords as recently as 2020. Now, the initial framework was an agreement between the United States and seven other like-minded countries on principles for the responsible exploration of space,” he said.

The crew’s visit to the UN follows a meeting with Trump at the White House on Wednesday. Trump also spoke to the crew while orbiting the moon in early April.