After traveling approximately 695,000 miles over its 10-day trip around the moon, the Artemis II crew \u2014 made up of astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Jeremy Hansen, and Victor Glover \u2014 made their splash landing into the Pacific Ocean, arriving safely back on Earth, on April 10.<\/p>\n
A day after the end of their historic journey, the four astronauts gave brief yet powerful reflections of their experience during an event at NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center in Houston.<\/p>\n
During her remarks, Koch \u2014 Artemis II\u02bcs mission specialist \u2014 shared that she has learned what the true meaning of a crew is.<\/p>\n
\u201cA crew is a group that is in it, all the time, no matter what, that is stroking together every minute with the same purpose, that is willing to sacrifice silently for each other, that gives grace, that holds accountable,\u201d she said. \u201cA crew has the same cares and the same needs and a crew is inescapably, beautifully, dutifully linked.\u201d<\/p>\n
With this in mind and looking down at Earth from space, Koch shared that what struck her wasn\u2019t necessarily just looking down at Earth, but \u201cit was all the blackness around it \u2014 Earth was just this lifeboat, hanging undisturbingly in the universe.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cI know I haven\u2019t learned everything that this journey has yet to teach me, but there\u2019s one new thing I know and that is, planet Earth, you are a crew.\u201d<\/p>\n Reflecting on his experience, Wiseman \u2014 who served as the Artemis II mission commander \u2014 highlighted the important role the astronauts’ families played in supporting them. <\/p>\n \u201cNo one knows what the families went through. This was not easy being 200,000-plus miles away from home,\u201d he said. \u201cBefore you launch it feels like it\u2019s the greatest dream on earth and when you\u2019re out there you just want to get back to your families and your friends.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cIt\u2019s a special thing to be a human and it\u02bcs a special thing to be on planet Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n During his remarks, Glover \u2014 who served as the pilot on the mission \u2014 said: \u201cWhen this started on April 3, I wanted to thank God in public and I want to thank God again, because even bigger than my challenge trying to describe what we went through, the gratitude of seeing what we saw, doing what we did, and being with who I was with, it\u2019s too big to just be in one body.\u201d<\/p>\n Glover shared another powerful message outside of his home in Houston to a group of neighbors who gathered to welcome him back. The video was shared on social media.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of us have never met before, and you know whose fault that is? Ours,\u201c he said. \u201dSo let\u02bcs choose to do this. Let\u02bcs be this more; let\u02bcs be neighbors. I don\u02bct know if you heard me say it, but God told us to love him with all that we are, and love our neighbors as ourselves.\u201d <\/p>\n