The Artemis II crew returned safely to Earth on Friday, when the Orion capsule splashed down off the coast of San Diego. The mission took NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen 252,756 miles from Earth – farther than any person had ever gone before.
According to The Guardian, one of the most risky stages of the mission is the re-entry, when the capsule slams into the atmosphere at more than 20,000 mph, causing its heat shield to reach temperatures above 2,900 degrees Fahrenheit.
The astronauts described overwhelming emotions during the 10-day trip.
Koch, the first woman to fly around the moon, said “I just had an overwhelming sense of being moved by looking at the moon.” She also said, “One of the biggest highlights was coming back from the far side of the moon and having the first glimpses of planet Earth again, after being out of communication for about 45 minutes. It really just reminds you what a special place we have and how important it is for our nation to work, to lead and not follow in exploring deep space.”
The communication blackout, which was anticipated, took place when Orion swung around the far side of the moon. The crew had no contact with mission control during that period.
During the mission, President Donald Trump asked the astronauts what they did during that time.
Glover, the first black man to travel beyond low Earth orbit, answered, “I said a little prayer, but then I had to keep rolling. I was actually recording scientific observations of the far side of the moon. ... We were busy up here working really hard – and I must say,it was actually quite nice.”
After the crewmembers first saw the Earth from space, Commander Wiseman commented, “I don’t know what we all expected to see. It was the most spectacular moment, and it paused all four of us in our tracks.”
Wiseman also said, “We saw sights that no human has ever seen before, not even in Apollo, and that was amazing for us. And then the surprise of the day, we just came out of an eclipse where the sun, moon – the entire dark moon about that big right out the window that we were watching – we could see the corona of the sun, and then we could see the planet train line up, and Mars. And all of us commented how excited we are to watch this nation, and this planet become a two-planet species.”
Hansen said he hopes space exploration will continue. “As we surpass the furthest distance humans have ever traveled from planet Earth, we do so in honoring the extraordinary efforts and feats of our predecessors in human space exploration. We will continue our journey even further into space before Mother Earth succeeds in pulling us back to everything that we hold dear. But we most importantly choose this moment to challenge this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long-lived.”
Seeing our “Pale Blue Dot” from space is a privilege few of us will have, and Wiseman admits those who do see it don’t have words to adequately describe it. On April 2, Glover’s message to Earth was, “Trust us, you look amazing, you look beautiful. And from up here, you also look like one thing. Homo sapiens, all of us, no matter where you’re from or what you look like, we’re all one people.”
Susan Thacker is the managing editor of the Great Bend Tribune. Send comments to sthacker@gbtribune.com.
