Artemis 2 Crew Returns After First Moon Trip Since 1972

Christina Koch woke up in her bed and tried to float. For several mornings after returning from humanity's first moon voyage in half a century, the NASA astronaut's brain couldn't quite believe gravity existed again.

Last week, Koch and three crewmates splashed down off San Diego after a ten-day journey that took them around the moon and into the record books. Koch became the first woman to travel to the moon, Victor Glover the first Black person, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen the first non-American.

The four Artemis 2 astronauts traveled farther from Earth than any human ever has. They witnessed a solar eclipse from space that lasted nearly 54 minutes, saw micrometeoroids pelting the lunar surface, and became the first people to view certain features on the moon's far side with their own eyes.

"It's very hard to fully grasp what we just went through," mission commander Reid Wiseman told reporters at their first press conference since returning. The crew has spent the past week undergoing medical tests, barely finding time to process the enormity of their achievement.

They lived together in a space about the size of two minivans for ten days. On their first night spreading out into separate beds eight feet apart, "It felt way too far," Koch said.

The mission tested NASA's new Orion spacecraft with human passengers for the first time. While the astronauts didn't land on the moon, Wiseman said a lunar landing is now within reach—potentially by 2028 with the Artemis 4 mission.

One moment stood out to Wiseman above all others: watching a solar eclipse from lunar orbit. "It was otherworldly, and it was amazing," he said.

The Ripple Effect

The astronauts keep emphasizing one message: this achievement belongs to everyone. When Koch's husband told her on a video call that she'd made a real difference, tears filled her eyes. "That's all we ever wanted," she said.

Glover has been trying to stay off social media, but the global response is sinking in. "We did what we said we would do," he said, his voice carrying the weight of that promise kept.

Hansen felt both infinitesimally small and powerfully connected during the journey. "Small and powerless but yet powerful together," he described the paradox of space travel.

The crew bonded so deeply that Wiseman called them "the closest four humans can be and not be a family." They're bonded forever by an experience only they share, floating together around Earth's ancient companion.

NASA is now accelerating its Artemis program timeline, targeting next year for Artemis 3 and 2028 for returning humans to lunar soil. The heat shield that protected the crew during reentry at 35 times the speed of sound and temperatures up to 5,000 degrees showed only minor wear.

"We as countries and as humans did this," Glover said, capturing what the crew wants the world to understand about their journey.