18.04.2026
Artemis II astronauts praise their moonship’s performance, especially the heat shield
The Artemis II astronauts who ignited a lunar renaissance gave high marks Thursday to their moonship, especially the heat shield, for its performance during reentry.
In their first news conference since returning to Earth, the three Americans and one Canadian said their lunar flyby puts NASA in a much better position for a moon landing by a crew in two years and an eventual moon base. They spoke from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, their home base.
Commander Reid Wiseman later told The Associated Press that he’s been so busy since getting back that he hasn’t had time to gaze up at the moon, let alone Carroll Crater, the name suggested by the crew for a bright lunar crater in honor of his late wife. They shared two daughters whose anxieties and fears over their father’s journey ended with his safe splashdown late last week.
“Being 252,000 miles away from home was the most majestic, gorgeous thing that human eyes will ever witness,” he said in an interview with the AP. But hurtling back through the atmosphere at 39 times the speed of sound, “that is scary and that is risky.” That’s why he yearned for home midway through his flight. “You just want to hold your kids and you just want them to know that you’re safe.”
Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen launched to the moon from Florida on April 1, NASA’s first lunar crew in more than a half-century and by far the most diverse.
They became the most distant travelers ever — breaking Apollo 13’s record — as they whipped around the lunar far side, illuminated enough to reveal features never viewed before by the human eye. The sight of a total lunar eclipse added to the wonderment.
Their Orion capsule, which they named Integrity, parachuted into the Pacific last Friday to close out the nearly 10-day voyage. Artemis II’s Houston homecoming the next day coincided with the 56th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 13.
Wiseman said he and Glover “maybe saw two moments of a touch of char loss” to the heat shield as Integrity plunged through the fastest, hottest part of reentry. Once aboard the recovery ship, they peered at the bottom of the capsule as best they could, leaning over to view any signs of damage. They spotted a little loss of charred material on the shoulder, where the heat shield meets the capsule.
“For four humans just looking at the heat shield, it looked wonderful to us. It looked great, and that ride in was really amazing,” Wiseman said.
He cautioned that detailed analyses still need to be conducted. “We are going to fine-tooth comb every single, not even every molecule, probably every atom on this heat shield,” he said.
The heat shield on the first Artemis test flight in 2022 — with no one aboard — came back so pockmarked and gouged that it pushed Artemis II back by months if not years. Instead of redoing it, NASA opted to change the capsule’s entry path to minimize heating. Future capsules will sport a new design.
As the parachutes released right before splashdown, Glover said he felt like he was in freefall — like diving backward off a skyscraper. “That’s what it felt like for five seconds,” he said, adding when the ride smoothed out: “It was glorious.”
Since their return, the four astronauts have endured round after round of medical testing to check their balance, vision, muscle strength and coordination, and overall health. They even put on spacewalking suits for exercises under conditions simulating the moon’s one-sixth gravity of Earth to see how much endurance and dexterity future moonwalkers might have upon lunar touchdown.
NASA already is working on Artemis III, the next step in its grand moon base-building plans. The platform from which the rocket launches headed back Thursday to Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building, where it will be prepped for next year’s Artemis launch.
Still awaiting an assigned crew, Artemis III will remain in orbit around Earth as astronauts practice docking their Orion capsule with one or two lunar landers in development by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.
Artemis IV will follow in 2028 under NASA’s latest schedule, with two astronauts landing near the moon’s south pole.
NASA is aiming for a sustainable moon presence this time around. During the Apollo moonshots, astronauts kept their visits short. Twelve astronauts explored the lunar surface, beginning with Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969 and ending with Apollo 17’s Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt in 1972.
Koch said that since returning, she and her crewmates are “feeling even more excited and just ready to take that on as an agency.”
“We made it happen,” she added.
Everyone will need to accept extra risk to achieve all this and trust that any future problems can be figured out in real time, Hansen noted. “We’re not going to be able to pound everything flat before we go. We’re going to have to trust each other,” he said.
While everything went smoothly for them, “it was also very clear to us that it can get pretty bumpy,” he said. Future crews will have to “understand it can get real bumpy real fast.”
Quelle: AP
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'Powerful together' Artemis II astronauts reflect on moon journey
Just a week after returning from their ground-breaking 10-day journey around the moon, the Artemis II astronauts say they've been overwhelmed by how closely people on Earth followed their mission — and how much it meant to everyone.
And they're still trying to fully grasp what their trip father into space than any other humans meant to them.
Hansen mentioned that he and his crewmates constantly shared a sense of smelling small as they ventured further into space.
“I kept seeing that same thing and that same feeling: small and powerless, yet powerful together,” said Mission Specialist Jeremey Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency.
During the flight, commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and missions specialists Christina Koch and Hansen broke a human spaceflight distance record, performed science and lunar observations, and wowed the world with stunning images and heartfelt moments — all to set the stage for a future Artemis mission that will land humans back on the moon.
After a docking test with one or both lunar landers in Earth orbit next year during Artemis III, the Artemis IV mission is poised to land a crew on the moon. And from there, NASA vows an extensive moon base as a permanent lunar presence.
'Global outpouring of support' for crew
“When we came home, we were shocked at the global outpouring of support, of pride of ownership of this mission,” Wiseman said. “And really, I think at the beginning, that's what the four of us wanted. We wanted to go out and try to do something that would bring the world together — to unite the world."
When asked if they knew the impact the Artemis II mission was having, the astronauts said they really didn't at the time. The crew noted that they were talking to Mission Control and all had a few calls with their families. They were focused on doing their jobs.
Koch noted that she doesn't like being the center of attention; she doesn't even like people celebrating her birthday. When her husband realized she was being thrust into global spotlight, he called her siblings to discuss just who was going to break the news to her when she returned.
“Because we didn't know. And in fact, what we were told really — through talking with a couple times with our families — was that there was an impact,” said Koch. “Not necessarily the number of viewers or anything like that, but that there was a positive impact.”
On a video call when Koch was still in space, her husband broke the news to her that the mission was creating a positive global impact.
“It brought tears to my eyes, and I said, ‘that's all we ever wanted’,” Koch said.
“We took your hearts with us, and your hearts lifted our hearts,” said Koch.
Artemis II astronauts reflect on shift in perspective
While the four saw stunning views while deep in space, they had a mission to accomplish. But Wiseman admitted sometimes the view was powerful enough to pull his attention away from the work at hand.
“Whenever someone would slip out, it was amazing to watch the other three pull them back in,” he said.
Packed schedule aside, all admitted the views were not just life changing, but difficult to put into words and even to comprehend.
This was especially true when the four were the first to witness the moon eclipse the sun from that distance and vantage point in space.
Upon returning to Earth, Wiseman, who described himself as not particularly religious, requested to speak with the chaplain on the Navy ship. When Wiseman laid eyes on the chaplain and saw the cross he was wearing, Wiseman said he shed tears.
“There was just no other avenue for me to explain anything or to experience anything,” he said.
As for what they saw, Hansen said it was hard to choose a favorite. What kept grabbing his attention was the three-dimensional depth to the galaxy and where the stars, moon and Earth were.
“And that the sense I had was the sense of fragility and feeling small, infinitesimally small — but yet this very powerful feeling as a human being, like as a group,” said Hansen.
Artemis crew say they returned as best friends
Koch joked that initially during their first time sleeping in Integrity, she wanted them all to be closer together.
“The astronauts’ creed is always to launch as friends, as land and land as friends. And when you live together in a small group for as long as you do on the space station, or even 10 days, it's a challenge,” said Wiseman. “But I am here to tell the world we launched as friends and we came back as best friends.”
“We are just we are bonded forever. I mean, that's the closest four humans can be and not be a family," he said.
Artemis II astronauts reflect on Orion spacecraft performance
Wiseman said the Orion spacecraft handled extremely well during flight.
“They fixed everything that we asked,” said Wiseman.
Glover noted that all four of them got a chance to fly the spacecraft.
“It flew better than the sim in all areas,” he said.
They were asked about little hiccups during the mission, such as with the toilet. At one point, Koch played the role of “space plumber”, working with Mission Control to get the toilet fully operational. Wiseman explained that while the toilet flushed just fine but the issue was a clog in the vent line.
“I just want to say 100% point blank, that was a wonderful toilet,” he said.
The toilet could only hold so much before it had to be dumped into space.
“That is an interesting thing to see out the window,” Wiseman laughed. “It’s just like a billion little, tiny flecks of ice heading out into deep space.”
As for the spacecraft’s heatshield, which prompted concerns and triggered an investigation after the uncrewed Artemis I Orion spacecraft saw charring during reentry, the crew and NASA both report initial satisfaction with what they saw.
Wiseman said before boarding the helicopters on the night of splashdown, the crew collectively took a look at their spacecraft. Slight charring was seen where the spacecraft’s heatshield meets the cone structure, yet the crew was satisfied with how the full bottom of the heatshield held up.
“It looked wonderful to us,” said Wiseman. “It looked great. And that ride in was really amazing.”
NASA plans to fully study how the spacecraft held up and release findings to the public.
Quelle: Florida Today