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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Artemis Crew Arrives On Recovery Ship; Soon, NASA News Conference On Crew's Historic Return; CNN Covers Artemis II Splashdown; NASA Administrators Take Questions On Artemis II Mission From Reporters At A Press Conference. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired April 10, 2026 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:09]
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: We're seeing the Navy crew there on the deck essentially tying down the helicopter, chalking it, preparing for unloading here. There are a couple shots here. You can see the pilots there in the front. This is -- it seems very 20th century that we are still doing this recovery via helicopter. This is what NASA was doing in the ocean during the Mercury missions, the first missions that took us.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: It is very retro.
MUNTEAN: Yes. And so, you know, not much -- like Miles said, what's old is new again. Not much has changed in a way. You know, the helicopters have changed, the boats have changed, the people have changed, some of the technology has changed but the Artemis missions are using a lot of off-the-shelf shuttle parts, even the solid rocket boosters, which Jeanette and I were talking about makes such the quintessential sound during the launch of the air being ripped in two. They are incredibly powerful, in total, 8.8 million pounds of thrust. That comes from the shuttle.
And so we have taken some steps forward but maybe not as many steps forward as one would expect in 2026.
COOPER: It's nice. There's nothing A.I. about this. It's like --
MUNTEAN: That's very true. Yes, it is very made --
COOPER: As powered helicopters --
MUNTEAN: Yes.
COOPER: -- winching people out of the water, fluids and all.
MIKE MASSIMINO, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: It's kind of interesting that the water recovery is -- the shuttle for all those years landing on a runway, now we're back to that. You know, we did for --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we couldn't plan on ground the way the Russians did.
MASSIMINO: Yes, right. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) for them.
MASSIMINO: The Starliner does that. The Starliner comes down, yes. We should do that.
COOPER: Let's hear what they're saying.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some our views, a very packed crowd over (INAUDIBLE).
Announcements being made over the ship's loudspeaker system, reminding folks to stay clear of operational areas, like the flight deck, so that teams can work quickly to get the crew off of the helicopters and into the medical bay.
COOPER: We are just past the top of the hour to anybody who was just joining, a bit less than two hours since the spacecraft, Integrity, brought the Artemis II astronauts back from their 700,000 mile trip around the moon and back.
In just the last few moments, the four astronauts hoisted from a small raft near the capsule, taken to a recovery ship nearby. They've just arrived on deck. In the moments ahead, they will continue to be checked out medically. They're still in those two helicopters before they'll be flown to shore in San Diego. In Houston, we've been seeing celebrations at Mission Control.
Joining me is former astronaut, Dr. Danny Olivas. Danny, I understand you helped troubleshoot the issues on the heat shield on Artemis I. You've got to be relieved, excited to see this crew back safe, and obviously the shields will be examined closely, but it worked.
DANNY OLIVAS, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Yes, absolutely. My hats off to the entire Heat Shield Tiger Team, they did a phenomenal job. They really got to the bottom of what happened with Artemis I. And, you know, I was listening to a previous guest, you know, Garrett and Leland are my classmates. So, I got a lot of respect for them, and as well as everyone else on the panel. But, you know --
COOPER: Did Leland call you when he was locked in that room? Because, apparently, you didn't help him get out. But, anyway, continue.
OLIVAS: Yes. He didn't help me out either, so there you go. But, no, this -- you know, they did a phenomenal job of analyzing the Artemis I heat shield. They were able to make some predictions. They -- we built a new facility actually at Ames Research Center, an architect facility, which simulated more the trajectory of Artemis I, which we did not have prior to Artemis I.
And so the data that actually came off of Artemis II is going to be vital to helping further qualify the Artemis -- I'm sorry, the Ames Arc Jet facility in doing more and more of the characterizations for lunar entry. This was -- there's so much data. I mean, I can only wait to see the engineering coming back because this thing is going to be picked over with a fine-tooth comb by all the engineers and scientists. You know, they'll be looking at the hardware performance, they'll be
looking at, you know, things that said that worked well, things that didn't work well, what needs to be improved for the future, and, ultimately, you know, getting ready for the next steps, which would be, you know, any -- you know, any flights between now and Artemis III and/or Artemis IV or V, and the subsequent Artemis missions as we move towards colonizing the moon.
[22:05:03]
COOPER: It's incredible. Let's just listen in here for a second.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And mission specialist Christina Koch sitting on the edge of one of the helicopters, looking in great spirits. That familiar smile and laugh from Victor, I can see it from here, Christina, I'm sure feeling the same way. Just blocked a little bit by our camera here, but we'll see her here shortly.
A photographer taking their pictures.
COOPER: That is Victor Glover.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Victor saluting folks on the flight deck. They look like they're in great spirits. Happy to be home, I'm sure.
COOPER: Mike, you got an email from Victor today -- was it today?
MASSIMINO: I did, yes, this morning, entry day.
COOPER: How does he have time sending you emails?
MASSIMINO: I don't know. It's not easy.
COOPER: What did he say? Can you look?
MASSIMINO: So, like he said a few things, but he did say, tell the world. So, I feel comfortable, you know, telling you this part of it. He said, tell the world to keep this energy going. Let's invest in togetherness.
And that just came off the top of his head while he had other things on his mind.
COOPER: That's awesome.
MASSIMINO: What do you think of that?
COOPER: I like it.
MASSIMINO: Very poetic.
COOPER: Invest in togetherness for that.
MASSIMINO: Yes. By the way, when you go into space to see Earth from far. COOPER: This is the best image we have seen so far up close of any of these astronauts. Again, we don't control these images. These are coming to us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, there we see Christina there also smiling, finally peering out, waving at the cameras. Hello to you too, Christina, yes. Welcome back. Welcome. Welcome home.
COOPER: Welcome home, indeed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A loudspeaker announcement on the ship saying, welcome home, Integrity.
Victor in great spirits. I can't see who he is talking to, but I kind of think that he might be talking to his other two crew members shouting from across the flight deck. Congratulations to one another.
MUNTEAN: Pilots there of Helicopter C Combat Squadron 23, who carried out this recovery. They've done a very good job of --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He'll talk to anybody. He's a very friendly guy. He's just totally awesome, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I see some Navy personnel walking up to the helicopter. This is, again, the first helicopter carrying Pilot Victor Glover and Mission Specialist Christina Koch. Both have taken off their helmets now.
Some pictures, video to catalog this historic moment. A beautiful sunset just behind them here in the Pacific Ocean, golden hour. These pictures will be beautiful.
MASSIMINO: I think they timed it for the sunset.
COOPER: I mean, it's pretty incredible.
MUNTEAN: In primetime.
COOPER: I understand there's --
MASSIMINO: California, they got this figured out.
COOPER: This is the NASA administrator crossing over the flight deck to shake hands with them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To Victor and Christina first, we saw the administrator walk over to the other helicopter, which is carrying Commander Reid Wiseman and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen.
We heard from Rick earlier the broadcast, again, he said he's going to be out there on the flight deck to do another initial assessment of the crew, ask them how they're feeling, anything bothering them. But, again, from what I'm seeing, they look like they're in great spirits and feeling pretty good for folks who just traveled 695,000 miles from Florida to the moon and now here to the Pacific Ocean.
COOPER: I also want to point out, we're expecting to hear from NASA News conference at Johnson Space Center within the hour.
Mike, what do you think would surprise people about being an astronaut?
MASSIMINO: I think it's the human element of it of you get to see wonderful things and experience a lot of interesting things in your job. But it's the closeness of the crews.
And you mentioned earlier the Mission Control Center. They're all really invested in the safety of that crew. And that's -- I think what you saw in that party was the relief that they got them back because they all were responsible.
But I think it's that -- that's the best thing about being an astronaut was the relationships you had, the friendships you had, the way you -- the love you had for each other and for serving something greater than yourself together. And that was, I think, even better than flying in space, for me, was that -- those relationships that we had.
[22:10:04]
COOPER: It seems like he's standing actually, Jeanette, is -- Jeanette, what do you think?
JEANETTE EPPS, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: It looks like -- it does look like he's standing, which, you know, some people couldn't do that when they come back, but he's also got people around him making sure he doesn't like fall over.
COOPER: Well, they're about to walk. Let's watch this. Let's watch.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Walking, waving across the flight deck now on his way to the medical bay.
It's a short walk, less than a minute. Again, that's why the recovery team decided to use helicopters to get them on the flight deck for that short walk to Medical Bay.
And now on the flight deck, we see the chief of the astronaut office, Scott Tingle. Rick Scheuring switching places, he's going over to the other helicopter. Big hugs, big hugs from Victor, Christina.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By the way, right now we're near solar maximum. So, the total radiative flux and particle flux of the sun sunset is at an 11-year high? So, that's got to be part of what this medical understanding is in terms of their exposure to the radiation in their ten days going around the moon without the protection of earth's magnetic blanket.
COOPER: I literally don't know a word you're saying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's saying he got zapped.
COOPER: I am not smart enough to understand what the --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The sun goes through --
COOPER: She's walking right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
EPPS: She's looking great.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can see she's looking up again. Lots of people just a few levels up off the flight deck welcoming her home.
EPPS: So, the people around her are probably just there for safety, just in case.
COOPER: I am really wishing I paid more attention to Malcolm Thompson's astronomy classes right now in high school.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, shout-out.
COOPER: May he rest in peace. He was a great teacher.
EPPS: So, one thing, Reid Wiseman and Jeremy Hansen are my classmates, and it does my heart very good to see Jeremy fly. This was his first mission. And he's just an amazing human being.
COOPER: What a first mission.
EPPS: Exactly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
COOPER: That's incredible.
EPPS: Worth the wait, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But was he the oldest one ever to leave lower Earth orbit?
EPPS: No. I believe it might have been Don Pettit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, to leave? No, to leave --
EPPS: Oh, exactly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To leave lower Earth orbit.
EPPS: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think --
COOPER: I want to bring in -- I also want to -- let's just watch him walk across. Look, he's unaided. He's walking across the flight. That's amazing.
EPPS: It's awesome.
MUNTEAN: With an empty wheelchair. Is that -- EPPS: It's just for safety, yes. They just want to make sure they're safe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They played a role and they're safe.
MASSIMUNO: It's kind of like what it was with the shuttle, the same duration, more or less, you're going to walk.
COOPER: I want to bring in former NASA Astronaut, Veteran Navy SEAL Chris Cassidy, he knows all four of the Artemis II crew members. Chris, thanks for joining us.
What are your thoughts seeing your friends walking on their own? Incredible.
CHRIS CASSIDY, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT AND NAVY SEAL: It is incredible. I have a whole lot of pride watching kind of two facets of my life. The United States Navy combining with NASA, seeing the four of our friends walking with the smiles and the pep in their step, knowing that what they just did for the world and for mankind.
And, Anderson, you have almost as much bravery by putting Leland and Garrett and Massimino on the show together.
COOPER: And this is the commander now walking.
CASSIDY: There goes Reid, the last one to leave.
COOPER: What's he like?
CASSIDY: Reid's amazing. All four of these guys are amazing. Reid, Navy guy, Victor Glover, another Navy captain. And Jeremy, an Air Force -- Canadian Air Force officer. Christina, of course, amazing background as well. But a lot of ship time between Victor and Reid. So, I'm sure they feel right at home walking across that gray deck.
COOPER: It's also important to point out, you know, there's the folks who serve and on -- in space on that ship, and then there are the families that they leave behind often for long periods of time. And those families are serving as well. I mean, the sacrifice of those families, which enables these people to do the missions they do, to protect us all, to journey into the beyond. They couldn't do it if it wasn't for the families behind. And we certainly saw that with Reid dedicating a crater to his wife.
CASSIDY: Yes, absolutely. And, Anderson, I was just going to say the same thing, there was almost no greater testament to what you just said than the tribute that that they left for Carroll by naming that portion of the moon.
[22:15:09]
And watching the feed the other day, Reid admitted that he couldn't get through that radio call. So, Jeremy stepped up and gave the poetic words that he did, really brought tears to my eyes, knowing the whole Wiseman family. And it kind of shows you what that crew is like, the camaraderie and the love for each other that Massimino, that Mike was just talking about a second ago, I couldn't agree more.
COOPER: Chris, I mean, you've done incredible things, Navy SEAL, astronaut, the SEAL training legendarily incredibly difficult. What was -- can you just talk about the kind of the different kinds of training?
CASSIDY: Yes. You know, training is such a fundamental thing to operations. And there're so many facets of it. The one thing that's different about space flight training is you can't just go there to -- you can't go to space to train for it. So, you have to come up and think of interesting -- oh, here's the helicopter crews congratulating each other, very cool.
On the note of training though, Anderson, you can't just go there to prepare for it. So, you have to put together this creative training environment pulling together different analogs to create your vision of what that will be. And it's kind of difficult for a first time base (ph) player to understand what that is. So, you talk with your experienced crew members and then you go yourself and you kind of piece it all together.
In the military, the enemy is the bad guys with the guns. In space, the enemy is the environment and the environment's trying to kill you.
So, in both cases, we have to prepare for, come up with what if situations, know what you're going to do if the X, Y, and Z and the broader support element, in this case, Mission Control Center and the military, the operations center, and some tenet knowing what they're going to do in different contingency situations. So, really getting the whole team on one page is what training's all about.
COOPER: And, Chris, can you just talk about, just from a -- I don't -- not -- excitement isn't the right word, but just from an experience standpoint, the experience of being in a combat zone, in a kinetic environment, and the experience of being on a mission in space, I mean, of two very different kinds of missions, yes, just what is the different mind frame or the different experience that you went through?
CASSIDY: Well, for me, the laser focus of stepping onto a helicopter at night on the tarmac in Bagram, Afghanistan, to go into a mission was very similar to the laser focus that you feel inside of a cockpit when the countdown clock resumes out at T-minus nine minutes and the clock is rolling, and you close and lock your visor, and you're here in the home of a fan blowing air over your face and you're watching all your displays getting down to zero, those two intense moments of just all your training, all of your attention, all of your decision- making, all of your risk mitigation before the mission coming to that point.
And so even though those two kind of missions seemed vastly different, for me, they were very similar in that sense. And then the mission happens and the environment gets a vote in a space flight, and the enemy gets a vote in a combat mission. So, you never know how it's going to play out, but you react and you decide and you make decisions and you do the best you can with the information you have, and then it ends.
And just kind of seeing it all to come together with your teammates, in this case, the crew or platoon of SEALS, same type of feeling, where you can fist bump each other and know that you pulled off something that is challenging, hard, risky and advances the mission of the United States.
COOPER: And then, Chris, to go from, you know, 60 miles an hour or in the case of, you know, space flight, 25,000 miles an hour or 15,000 miles an hour to back home in the grocery store, you know, figuring out what vegetables to get for the dinner tonight, what is that like for each -- I mean, is it -- it's got to be -- that's got to be such an adjustment.
CASSIDY: Yes, indeed. Similar to Garrett's Airbnb story, I landed on my first mission space shuttle in Florida, and a couple hours after the required medical checks, couple hours later, I was in Subway at Cocoa Beach with my family, and I'm thinking, man, this person smearing mayonnaise on my bread and has no idea what just happened.
[22:20:03]
I'm still peeing Tang.
COOPER: Yes.
CASSIDY: But -- and then I deployed to Afghanistan right after 9/11, a couple weeks later. And when I came home from that deployment in, I guess, would've been April of 2002, after all the chaos of seven months of combat operations, I remember we were driving my family, we were driving from the Norfolk Naval Base Airport back home and we passed Target, and it was nighttime, and there was McDonald's and Target and gas stations. And it was a very overwhelming feeling, like life just continued. And that's what I remember thinking. It was a normal night in Norfolk, Virginia. People getting gas going to Target, oh, I forgot ice cream. And it was hard to process.
COOPER: Yes. Yes, I've had times I've been overseas and had these incredible life-changing experiences and then come home and it's been a regular weekend for everybody else. And it's a weird feeling. But for you even more, who was actually doing something when, you know, you were on a mission, I was just, you know, talking to people.
CASSIDY: Well, you've seen a lot, Anderson. The nation appreciates your coverage of all those things. So, thank you on behalf of a dedicated watcher. I appreciate you.
COOPER: Oh, that's very kind. But -- well, I mean, for you to be in Afghanistan, right, for 9/11 is extraordinary, and your entire career is extraordinary, as is everybody on this panel who served.
Do you miss space?
CASSIDY: You know, it's funny, I'd be curious the answers of the panel and my colleagues and my friends here, but I've been out of the government now for five years and I thought when I left I would have a burning hole to get -- a burning desire and a hole in my gut to get back there, and I would go in a heartbeat. But I found myself getting more and more satisfaction of watching the smiles on the faces of the Reids and the Victors and the Jeremys and the Christinas of the world. And I think that will continue to be the case.
I mean, don't get me wrong, if Jared Isaacman called and said, Chris, you got to go tomorrow, you'd see the wheels peeling out in my driveway, but I don't think that's happening. I'm very proud to see the success of our teammates, though. It's pretty cool to see. And the galvanization that's happening with this mission around the nation, around the world, our partners in Canada, it's just really, really special. I don't think there's anything like spaceflight that can bring nations and people together.
COOPER: Well, it's also amazing to see how, you know, you all stand on the shoulders of those who came before you in this line of work. And, you know, it builds on the programs that have existed before going back, you know, generations.
I just want to show our viewers some of what we have witnessed for viewers who are just joining at this time. I want to show the splashdown. Pete, can you just talk us through a little bit what we're seeing?
MUNTEAN: This was probably one of the more dangerous parts of --
COOPER: Maybe lose the graphic so we can see it?
MUNTEAN: -- of this entire mission, reentry, was really a test of tweaks that were made to the profile of the spacecraft as it was coming in for reentry, essentially the angle of attack or the bite that the Orion was going to take out of the atmosphere, initially skipping off of it and then making sort of a deeper dive into the atmosphere to try and abate some of the heat for a shorter period of time on a heat shield that was sort of remained to be seen about how well it would work.
The splashdown here into the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of San Diego, 8:07:27 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, 5:07:27 seconds Pacific Time, ending a nine-day, one hour, 32-minute mission, and 15 seconds. We're talking 695,000 miles traversed by the crew of Artemis II. This went so successfully. They nailed it.
When it came to the reentry, a NASA official quoted not long after this reentry, said this was picture perfect. They could not have envisioned this going any better. The capsule landed right side up, not upside down, meaning those helium inflatable bags at the top of the spacecraft did not need to be employed to write it right side up, but they still deployed it anyway.
The Navy divers swept in to make sure that there were no toxic fumes caused by some of the spent materials onboard the spacecraft as it came in during reentry.
[22:25:09] And then of course the side hatch was opened and all four astronauts were pulled out one by one onto what is called the floating dock there. They call it the front porch of the spacecraft turns into essentially a big raft. And that brings us to now all four astronauts are now in medical bay onboard the USS John P. Murtha, a well-deck ship where the Orion capsule will essentially be swallowed by the ship a little bit later on.
The parachutes will be recovered among some of the other parts that were shed during reentry. And then, of course, the astronauts can go back to land. They sort of have the option after this medical assessment onboard the USS Murtha to fly back tonight to the Naval Air Station in San Diego.
COOPER: If they were going to Norfolk, Chris could recommend a Subway for them.
MUNTEAN: Yes. Or they could stay in a hotel.
So, really --
COOPER: Thankfully, Subway is nationwide.
MUNTEAN: -- this went so, so, so well.
And I was at the launch at the Cape. That was just an incredible site to behold, such a visceral sensory, just incredible moment to be there for. I'd never witnessed a launch at such close range before as sort of the new person covering space here for CNN. And it was just something that went so well. When they only took off, they only departed nine minutes late. Take that, airlines. That was pretty good. They did not anticipate things going so well. And this mission has just been incredibly smooth from the get go.
COOPER: Yes. Let me bring in Danny Olivas. Danny, is there a moment from this mission that stands out to you or the one moment that for you is the most compelling or interesting, whether it's the reentry or anytime in the mission?
OLIVAS: Well, you know, I think for me, it was really once we hit entry interface and probably because the heat shield was the one aspect of Orion that I probably know the best just because of my involvement with it, knowing full well that risks can never be taken down to zero.
So, you know, we knew that the heat shield was going to crack. We were confident that it wasn't going to be, you know, cracked to the extent that it was on Artemis I. But still, you know, you look at the data, you convince yourself that everything looks good.
And, you know, for all rational purposes, it is good and you're ready to come home. And NASA did made the right decision to fly Artemis the way it was. But there's still that irrational part of your brain that says, you know, but maybe I forgot something. What if I forgot something? And, you know, fortunately, actually NASA did the testing where they actually tested for a piece of that coat, you know, they actually didn't completely came out, a whole block came out, just to see whether or not the back shell had capacity to be able to handle the heat load as well or what level of heat load it could handle. And sure enough they found that they had margin there as well. Not only to maintaining the pressure within the capsule, but also maintaining the loads that would happen on impact, as we saw just recently when it splashed down in the water. There's a lot of forces on the aero (ph) shell, on the back shell.
So, they really did a great job in knocking the heat shield out of the park and, yes, I held my breath. And when I heard the crew come on after the six-minute blackout, I breathed a huge sigh of relief.
COOPER: Yes, I think a lot of people did.
I just want to show a live shot of the Empire State Building here in New York lit up in red, white, and blue, and tribute to the four Artemis astronauts.
I also want to bring in former NASA astronaut and retired Air Force Colonel Terry Virts. Colonel Virts, I appreciate you being with us.
How would you rate this mission? What are you looking to forward to hearing about from the astronauts?
COL. TERRY VIRTS (RET.), U.S. AIR FORCE: Well, this mission was an a plus. I mean, this was so exciting. There's been a lot of bad news recently, and this is definitely a huge, bright spot. They said that Apollo 8 saved 1968, and maybe, some ways, Artemis II will save 2026.
I can't wait to hear what it was like to ride that capsule back. My first flight was on a space shuttle, which was a nice, gentle kind of airliner type of landing. My second flight was in a capsule, the Soyuz capsule. And that thing, man, that was a crash.
COOPER: I've heard those tumble. Is that right?
VIRTS: The Soyuz was tumbling the night before we landed. I was there with Scott Kelly. And he had done it before. I had only landed on the shuttle and he said, hey, guys, you're going to think you're going to die.
[22:30:00]
But don't worry, you're not going to die. I was so glad he told us that. Because if he hadn't told me that, I would have thought we were going to die. We were tumbling so much. But it was pretty cool.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: When I read you were tumbling, I mean, you're literally like just -- the ship is tumbling over it. So, you're going around and around and around? VIRTS: I assume it was when the drogue shoot came out. It felt like a couple minutes. It was me and Samantha, Chris, Freddie and a Russian cosmonaut. We were all yelling "Rusky Gorky," which is the Russian word for roller coaster, because it felt like you were up and they were like, woo-hoo. It was crazy. But so, I don't know if the Orion was like that or not. No one knows, only these four. They're the first four human beings, Americans and Canadians to ever fly in this capsule. So, I want to know what the re-entry was like.
COOPER: Wow. Garrett, what for you stands out about this mission?
GARRETT REISMAN, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: I d like to pick up on something that Chris was talking about, about how it fosters, or gives us this glimpse into this world where we're united and where we're all one species on this planet having -- sharing the same home. And you know, we've been joking around a lot and having fun on this broadcast. And by the way Anderson, thank you so much for organizing this amazing reunion.
COOPER: Yes, I wish we had like some beer. I mean, I don't drink, but it's fun.
REISMAN: Yes, that would help. Yes, Yes. But it's a -- so, there's been lots of light moments here, but it's -- I can't help but notice that there's such a contrast to, and you know this Anderson, compared to all the other stories you've been covering, it's been a pretty dismal couple weeks. We've had war,
COOPER: Yes.
REISMAN: -- we've had all this conflict and division, and here you see the best of us. You see this crew from all the different walks of life came together for a common purpose and put aside their differences, or actually as Victor said, Victor's so eloquent, I think he said, they didn't put aside their differences. They brought their differences together and it made them stronger.
And you see that, you see Canadians, you see Europeans providing this, and compare that with what's happening in the rest of the world. This is a glimpse, I think, of the future that I want for my grandkids and I want for my kids going forward, where we get along and we find common ground and we work towards a common purpose so we can do amazing things.
COOPER: Yes, and get things done. I mean, it's just about getting things done. It's getting the mission done and everybody's joined in that and unified in it.
REISMAN: Exactly. Exactly.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON, ASTROPHYSICIST: Space will do that. Do you know that the International Space Station is the only after the waging of war is the International Space Station the greatest investment of human capital that the world has ever seen, of international capital. And so, war, you're killing people. International space station, you're collaborating. Space is a place to collaborate when given the opportunity. And it's
something we need to do more of. And not only just because you can, but in space, you look back at Earth. This man here to your right was brought to tears looking back at Earth after looking out in space he wrote in his memoir, it can change you.
And what we should all do is vote to send all the world's leaders out to the moon. And then don't bring them back until they can all agree. And the moon would be a good place to have that happen.
COOPER: Mike, what sense is it to you?
MIKE MASSIMINO, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Yes, I think that as you referred to the opportunity to view the planet, I believe we're living in an absolute paradise. We should be amazed that we're here every day. And then the other thing that changed for me, I grew up not too far from here out on Long Island. When I was a little kid, that was my home. And then I started going to college and traveling around a little bit and I identified as a New Yorker, you know, the general New York area.
And then became an astronaut and I thought of home as the United States, you know, the American flag's in my arm when I went to work. When I'm on my spacewalk looking at the planet, I realize that that is home, and we all share it. When I think of home now, I'm always going be a kid from Long Island and a New Yorker and an American, but I consider myself a citizen of planet Earth.
And when I think of home now, I think of Earth. You look at it, you realize that's where everybody is, everyone that's come before us, everyone that's going to come after us, and let's maybe find another place but for the time being, it's all there, and it's a place we all share. And I think that this crew reminded us of that in what they said and what they saw.
COOPER: And we're anticipating a press conference that will bring you, but Jeanette, for you, what stands out from this mission?
JEANETTE EPPS, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Well, watching the news nowadays and listening to the whole world, talk about Artemis II, it just reminds me of, you know, back in the '60s when we went to the moon, how we inspired just a whole generation, a whole world, and now this generation is going to, it's the Artemis generation.
We're going to see a lot more students involved in STEM. We're going to see a lot more tech being developed, a lot more ways we can help our planet Earth and live on the moon and potentially get to Mars.
[22:35:04]
So, I think for me, I see excitement, hope, just a whole different feel in the world right now.
COOPER: I don't want to leave Leland feeling like he's locked in a TV closet somewhere. Leland, what stands out to you in this? LELAND MELVIN, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Anderson, I'm out of that space
now. I really see in this mission, I see legacy. You know, look at the story legacy of NASA and the people that have given us, you know, Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab. You know, all these different platforms. But when you go back to some of the really early people like someone like Ed White who would have been, you know, the first black Apollo astronaut and he was kicked out of the program because of, you know, issues of the time.
But he mentored Victor and helped Victor become a pilot in this program called Shades of Blue. And so, Ed Dwight is now the oldest person to fly in space at 90 years old on the origin. And Victor, myself, Charlie Bolden and all of us were there celebrating that. And then Victor sent Ed a message saying, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here. I love you.
COOPER: Wow.
MELVIN: And that's the part the legacy of how we carry this on to the next generation, the STEM education that kids going to be learning. We do we do this in a way that changes the universe one person at a time. And you know, I was with Neil at the at the "Project Hail Mary" opening in New York and he had this hat on that said 6.02 times 10 to the 23rd and it was the Avogadro's number.
So, he's got this nerd hat on showing, you know, chemistry. And we can get these kids to think that that's cool and that this kind of working together around the world is cool. And to learn these hard subjects, to do these hard things, to change the universe in a way that's going be beautiful. It's incredible.
COOPER: I keep trying to say to my son, we do hard things and sometimes I'm not sure I do, but I certainly want him to feel he can and all of us can. Very quickly, if we can, Colonel Virts, for you, what's the high point of this?
VIRTS: Well, I think the human inspiration that everybody's been talking about, you know, it's been a rough time on planet Earth and this shows the best of what we can be. But the big picture of what's happening here though, Artemis II is a test flight. It's one of many stepping stones, hopefully. The next one we're going to test out the lunar landers in Earth orbit. The one after that hopefully will send at least one of the lunar landers to the surface of the moon with astronauts.
And that is just going to be one of many other missions, unmanned rovers and robots. And so, this is going to be a concerted, sustained plan to get back to the moon. This has been too long. This program was really born in 2004 under President George W. Bush. So, I think this next NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman is going to light a fire and we're going to start flying to the moon a lot more.
So the test pilot in me is excited for the test mission. Again, this is just one step of many. As the crew was saying, hopefully this record will be broken of how far they went, and we can get back to the business of exploring the moon and learning to live on the moon. And hopefully be on the moon in the years and decades to come.
COOPER: Let's listen to the press conference now at Johnson Space Center.
(LIVE COVERAGE)
UNKNOWN: They are Amit Kshatriya, Associate Administrator. Dr. Lori Glaze, Head of the Artemis Programs. Rick Henfling, Entry Flight Director. Howard Hu, Orion Program Manager. And Shawn Quinn, Exploration Ground Systems Program Manager. We'll hear briefly from them and then take questions from here in the room and on the phone. And with that, we'll start with Amit.
AMIT KSHATRIYA, NASA ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR: Good evening. Yesterday when we were in this room, we told you that the crew would put their lives behind our confidence, and they did. Yesterday in this room, we told you that today belongs to the engineers and technicians who touched this machine, and it does, and their work was good.
Welders at Michoud shaped the heat shield and joined the rocket. Technicians at Kennedy packed parachutes, stacked the vehicles, stacked Orion, stacked SLS. Engineers in Bremen, Torino, and across the Alliance built a service module. Workers at Utah cast the boosters. Teams at Stennis fired the engines. Flight controllers in this building in Houston sat console for 10 days straight.
It sat silent tonight for six minutes while plasma took the signal. Navy divers pulled the crew out of the Pacific in incredible way. The vehicle spoke for all of them and at 25,000 feet per second, it said the work was good. As we say in our business, physics votes last.
The families of the crew said this week there had been happiness and joy, but also anxiety, wanting to their loved ones home safely. I was with them tonight. Four families sat through those six minutes and their courage is the same as the crew that just came home. Yesterday, Flight Director Jeff Radigan said we had less than a degree of an angle to hit after a quarter of a million miles to the moon.
[22:40:02]
Their team hit it. That is not luck. That is a thousand people doing their jobs. You all heard the crew's words during the mission. They were incredibly inspirational. They carried the torch from Apollo through station and around the far side of the moon. Their words belong to them. We'll get to hear from them as soon as they're back here. But tonight belongs to the team that built the machine that they wrote.
We talk a lot about what gets in our way. The impediment to action is where we find the way to get to action. What stands in the way becomes the way. This program faced every obstacle an institution could face. The team met each one with work, and tonight is the proof that that work needs to continue. The path to the lunar surface is open, but the work ahead is greater than the work behind us. It always will be. Fifty-three years ago, humanity left the moon. This time we return to stay. Let us finish what they started. Let us focus on what was left undone.
Let us not go to plant flags and leave, but to stay. With firmness in our purpose, with gratitude for the hands who built the machines, and with love for the ones that we carry with us. Welcome home, Integrity. I'll hand it over to Dr. Glace.
LORI GLAZE, ACTING ASSOCIATE ADMIN, NASA'S EXPLORATION SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT MISSION DIRECTORATE: Thank you so much, Amit. So, you all, we did it. We sent four amazing people to the moon and safely returned them to Earth for the first time in more than 50 years. To the generation that now knows what we're capable of, welcome to our moonshot.
I want to thank our entire team across this nation and around the world who gave every ounce of ingenuity and effort to make (mic off). I am so proud of each and every one of you, what you have achieved over the last 10 days. NASA has shown that ambitious goals are worth pursuing and can inspire the world. We are so thrilled to have Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy back here on Earth and safely aboard the USS John P. Murtha.
Our team is fired up, and this mission, as we've been talking about, is just the beginning. To all of our new followers out there, please stay tuned. This is the first mission, our first mission to the moon, of many more to come. And we can't wait. Our teams are so ready to get to work on the next missions and explore the lunar surface and bring the world along with us. I'll pass it over to Rick.
RICK HENFLING, ENTRY FLIGHT DIRECTOR: Thank you, Lori. Thank you all for your continued interest in this mission. What a truly spectacular day it was for NASA and all of our international partners. This crew has said time and again that they were going for all of humanity and today we fulfilled that objective by completing their journey and returning them safely to Earth.
I've got a few stats for those who are interested, courtesy of the Flight Dynamics Officer and Mission Control. Integrity and her crew of four astronauts flew 700,237 miles. We reached a peak velocity of 24,664 miles per hour. We hit our flight path angle target within 0.4 percent. We flew an entry range of 1957 miles and we landed within less than a mile of our target. What a tremendous day. Over to Howard.
(APPLAUSE)
HOWARD HU, NASA'S ORION PROGRAM MANAGER: Thank you, Rick, and thank you to the flight control team. What an outstanding job. Wow, what a fantastic day. I mean, we've dreamed as a team of reaching this day, and I appreciate Amit's comments. I mean, so many people have worked very hard tirelessly to get this day.
I think this mission has been historic and has demonstrated new capabilities for Orion spacecraft, has taken our crew farther than any crews that have ever gone to the moon and packed safely -- 252,756 miles and that is a fantastic feat. We got a lot more to do and I'm so happy that we get to have this moment but we're going to have a lot of these moments coming up. And I want to thank the entire Orion team. They have worked tirelessly. They've dedicated many hours. They've
committed to excellence and innovated and attacked challenges that we've come up with for both our NASA team, our industry partners, and our European team, as well. We did it together. We brought the crew home safely. They did a reserve round of applause. It was terrific day for them, as well.
And I want to thank the crew. They have been a fantastic inspiration to our teams, as well. You've heard their messages. We are so happy they're back on the ground. We can't wait to see them, as well. And finally, you know, we've learned a lot from this mission. Number one was bringing the crews home safely, but it's also a test flight. And like Amit said, we have a work ahead of us to be done.
[22:45:02]
We're going to learn from this mission. We're going to look at the data, and then we'll move forward. This is the start of a new era of human space exploration. Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
SHAWN QUINN, MANAGER, NASA'S EXPLORATION GROUND SYSTEMS AT KENNEDY SPACE CENTER: Well, thank you Howard. What an incredible end to an incredible mission. I got to tell you, think I'm trying to pick out the best thing to happen today and I'll just say that we were sitting in the back room getting ready for this press conference, and Howard gets a call from Reid Weisman, the commander of Integrity.
And it was so great to hear his voice and tell us that all the crew is okay and we can say that we did our mission. We accomplished what we set out to do. I'm very proud of the efforts of the Exploration Ground Systems team that supported both the launch and recovery operations alongside our Navy partners. All the hard work and dedication over the last couple years paid off today and the team did a great job.
Our recovery teams are currently in the process of bringing Orion back on the well deck of the ship. And hopefully within about four five hours it will be hard down in the back end of the USS Murtha. It's good to be NASA. It's good to be an American today. Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
UNKNOWN: All right, it's time now for questions. We'll start here in the room and take several from the phone. For those on the phone, you can press star one to get into the question queue. And please limit to one question if you can. We'll start here with Joey.
JOEY ROULETTE, "REUTERS" SPACE REPORTER: Thanks so much, Joey Roulette of "Reuters" and congrats on a really nice mission. Curious to hear more about how the astronauts are doing, where are they going to sleep tonight. And then also, when do you guys expect to announce the crew for Artemis III?
(LAUGHTER) KSHATRIYA: So, the answer to your second question, Joey, is soon. I will not put units on that in my value, but soon. Rick, you want to talk about the crew, what they're doing?
HENFLING: Yes, we saw the crew a number of times after they got out the spacecraft. We saw them on the front porch. Everybody was happy and healthy. I saw Victor as he was sitting on the edge of the helicopter on the flight deck of the ship. And he was smiling in good spirits. And everything we've been hearing from the surgeons is the flight crew is happy and healthy and ready to come home to Houston.
LAUREN GRESH, "BLOOMBERG": Hi, Lauren Gresh with Bloomberg. Congratulations again. You know, obviously it's been such a great mission to watch from start to finish, but I guess I'm wondering if you had to categorize, you know, this was a test flight. What would you say is the issue that you feel maybe the most grateful arose during this mission so that you could apply that lesson learned to the next?
UNKNOWN: Howard, why don't you take that one?
HU: Yes, I think, you know, we're taking a lot of lessons learned. Certainly learning about how the crew operates a spaceship has been a really great learning experience and flying and ability for them to test drive our spacecraft has been good, I think. As we mentioned previously, our pressure control assembly where we discovered a leakage through the system, I think we learned a lot about that. That is a new finding.
Certainly we're going to go investigate that. We're going look at that and move forward and make sure that we make some changes if necessary. But we'll get to all the data and we'll go forward from there.
UNKNOWN: Marcia?
MARCIA DUNN, "ASSOCIATED PRESS": Associated Press, Marcia Dunn. The administrator described the crew as great communicators, almost poets. How is, you know, this is going to be a tough act to follow for the upcoming crews, soon to be picked. Talk about this crew, in particular, and what they brought to this that went beyond the scientific and the research and the engineering, please.
GLAZE: I'll just say that this particular crew, you know, they've gotten to know each other so well. So, each of them individually are just absolutely amazing individuals. But they, as a group, you could watch them. And what they brought is you watch them in Orion over the last 10 days operating just seamlessly between the four of them. Just the teamwork, the camaraderie, just -- I think they really brought an amazing sense of what we're trying to achieve with this mission.
It's -- the mission for all humanity, a mission for all, and they really did represent that and tried to communicate that. I do know that our entire astronaut corps is spectacular, and so I have no doubt that the next teams will also rise to that level.
UNKNOWN: Jackie? JACKIE WATTLES, CNN SPACE AND SCIENCE WRITER: Hi all, Jackie Wattles,
CNN. Congratulations.
[22:50:00]
Question for Rick, I'm really anxious to hear what that blackout during re-entry was like for you. And also, just wanted to ask, you know, that splash on target being less than a mile off is incredible. Can you walk us through if anything, you know, was outside of ordinary? I know we heard on comms there were some sensor issues just before entry interface. Just curious to hear more about that. Thanks.
HENFLING: Sure, so you know, Blackout, there's really no beating around the bush with that. You know, it's a difficult time because the flight control team wants to see data. We want to look at the data, we want to be able to provide input to the flight crew on how to fly their spaceship. And when we don't have data, we're trying to figure out what to do with ourselves.
But we knew when Blackout was going to start, it started when we expected, we knew when it was going to end, it ended when we expected. And so, that gave us the trust that the spaceship was flying itself correctly. As far as some of the cautions and things that came up on the way down, the prop cautions, they were, we think that again, that was learning of the spacecraft.
Some of the limits are set a little bit tighter than we probably should have had them set. And we dispositioned those and moved on. As far as the comms post landing, we don't quite know what was going on there, but we worked around it. We had comms with the recovery team and we safely handed over the mission authority at the right time.
UNKNOWN: Okay, Josh.
JOSH DINNER, SPACE.COM REPORTER: Hi, Josh Dinner, Space.com. Really excited to hear that the crew is doing well. I'm interested, you know, we saw Victor sitting on the edge of that helicopter once they landed on the ship, and it was great to see them all, you know, walk across the deck. They were set to do an emergency egress test with a ladder, a backpack, you know. I'm wondering if they've performed that yet, how soon they will be performing it, and if they have, how it went.
HENFLING: I'm not familiar with the emergency egress test post landing. Given that this was a test mission, the number one goal was to get the flight crew out of the spaceship as fast as we could and we weren't looking at any post landing objectives.
GLAZE: Yes, we did do, I think back when we were back on the launch pad, we did during the CDDT, we did an emergency egress, but that's the only one I'm aware of. Yes, but we'll check on it for you.
UNKNOWN: Eric.
ERIC BERGER, ARS TECHNICA: Eric Berger, Ars Technica. Congratulations on making what I know is really hard look easy. It was a beautiful mission. You said the work ahead is greater than the work behind us. Can you talk about as sort of NASA rises to these far greater
challenges in Artemis III, Artemis IV, and building the moon base, how important it is for you and the agency to be flying humans into the deep space again, and sort of to be at an operational cadence? This has to be pretty uplifting to the workforce to put the 50 years of not being back to the moon behind us.
KSHATRIYA: Yes, it's huge. I mean, flight cadence and iteration is the key to reliability and safety. You know, we were waiting to fly this mission for several years. A lot of that was because of, you know, the issues we saw during Artemis I and making sure we did that the right way. And we tried to make sure the machine was perfect before we flew it. But the real way to do that is to keep iterating, to keep flying, keep learning, keep getting data in the flight environment.
So, that piece of how we're going to change the architecture and demanding that higher cadence is going to be, I would say mandatory for us to be successful. We need that muscle memory to exist. We need the data to keep coming in and we need to be able to quickly iterate and change the machine as we learn from it. Everything we learn from Artemis II we're going to get right after, but I would say it's essential.
UNKNOWN: Okay, Irene.
IRENE KLOTZ, AVIATION WEEK IN SPACE TECHNOLOGY: Irene Klotz with Aviation Week in Space Technology, for Amit. What do you think will be your biggest challenge to ensure that this mantle and responsibility of inheriting what Apollo did does not end like Apollo?
KSHATRIYA: I think the -- we've talked about this a little bit before, you know, the architects of Apollo, they -- Gilroy's von Braun, Siemens, Miller, what they really wanted to do when they were given the challenge of expanding the range of action to the moon was to learn to live and work in space for a long time. They wanted to do that first. I talked a little bit about this with Rob earlier.
I think, you know, and of course because of the nature of the environment they were in, you know, they were in a race, they achieved their objectives, they were geopolitical, as well as technological, but once it was done, it was done. And I think the foundation they wanted to build on is what we went to afterwards. So we wanted to investigate reusability with shuttle. We did that.
We wanted to learn to live in space for a long time with station. We've got to that point now, 25 years of occupation. Now, it's interesting. I think where we are with the program is kind of where they wanted us to be before they decided to go do that, to actually enable a sustainable presence, to learn how to live and work there for a long time.
[22:55:02]
So, you know, it's a weird irony of history that, you know, it took that long for us to do that. But we weren't sitting idle while that happened. We developed the capability to have an enduring presence, you know, in space. And now we're going to take advantage of that now that we've reached back to the moon.
UNKNOWN: Okay, we'll take one more in the room from Ken Chang, and then we'll go take several from the phone.
KEN CHANG, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Ken Chang from the York Times, I guess for Rick and everybody else. I was just -- can you talk about what the last 13 minutes were like? There had to be some anxiety, and what was the moment where you could finally relax and when did you start celebrating in Mission Control?
HENFLING: Certainly, there's anxiety. If you didn't have anxiety bringing the spacecraft home, you probably didn't have a pulse. You know, we were -- I have a lot of trust in my team. We've got -- all flight controllers in the room on entry day, went through a rigorous training process and they are the system experts on their respective part of the spacecraft. And so, while there's anxiety, there's a lot of confidence because the team is there to do a job and we've trained well and we executed well.
We all breathe the sigh of relief once the side hatch opened up. That's when we brought the team in. We said a few words to the flight controllers. And then we turned around to the families and waved to the families and gave them a thumbs up. And we all watched as a flight control team as each of the four astronauts got out of the spaceship and were hoisted up onto the helicopters. It was a great day.
UNKNOWN: Okay, we'll take several questions from the phone now. The first one is from Micah Maidenberg with "The Wall Street Journal."
MICAH MAIDENBERG, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL" (on the phone): Good evening. A question for Lori or Howard. I know it's very, very early here, but any initial thinking about the heat shield performance relative to Artemis I? And could you walk through how the heat shield will be assessed in the coming weeks and months? Thanks so much.
GLAZE: So, I'll just start and then I'll hand it over to Howard, how's that? So, you know, initially we gathered a lot of data already. Certainly you saw there were aircraft that were positioned in order to do some imagery and collect data. So, we've got some of those data that can be analyzed in the coming days and weeks. We also had divers below the surface that took imaging of the heat shield before it was brought onto the Murtha so that we could understand exactly what state it's in after it landed.
And so, we've already, I think we've already begun the data gathering piece of it. I'm sure there will be more assessments once we get on the ship. And then Howard, why don't you talk kind of what the next steps are.
HU: Yes, we already have two of our heat shield experts on board the ship. And so, when we get the crew module into the well deck and we'll do some inspections right off the bat. Like Lori said, we've got underwater divers that are taking pictures. And then after that, once we've inspected that on the ship, we'll transfer it back to Kennedy Space Center. We'll have opportunity to look in detail and do scans of the heat shield, and we'll have a lot of good data from that. We also captured a lot of great imagery. Obviously, we haven't had
time to digest all that data, but we will in the next several days. And make sure we understand if there's anything that happened that was anomalous. But we're very excited. The team is very excited to get that data from both the imagery and seeing it live in person.
UNKNOWN: Next up is Jackie Mogensen with Scientific American.
JACKIE MOGENSEN, "SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN" (on the phone): Hi, thanks for this. I wanted to follow up on one of the earlier questions about the astronauts. I was curious if it might be possible to tell us a little bit more if we know about what the astronauts will be doing in their first days back on Earth, you know, what their first meal might be or activities with their family. Thanks so much.
HENFLING: Well, the top priority is going to be to get them promptly back to their families here in Houston. As far as the specifics, I'm sure each of the crew members has something special planned with their families, and that'll be the priority -- is for them to take some time and spend with their loved ones.
GLAZE: Yes, I'm not sure we answered it, but we do anticipate them arriving back here in Houston 12 to 24 hours after splashdown, so that would be between seven in the morning and seven in the evening tomorrow.
UNKNOWN: Next on the phone is Jeff Foust with "SpaceNews."
JEFF FOUST, "SPACENEWS" (on the phone): Good evening. I wonder if you can talk through what the processing of the Orion spacecraft is going to be now that it's back. At what point do you sort of extract all of the lessons learned from the mission and start applying them to Artemis III in order to have that mission ready to go launch in about a year's time? Thanks.
HU: Yes, you know, we will have what we call a quick initial 30-day report that we will put together. Every team will be doing their due diligence and analyzing all the data we have. The crew module will get transported back to Kennedy Space Center. Shawn's team, Exploration Ground Systems, is going to decontaminate the vehicle in terms of the propulsion system has hydrazine. And so, we'll be working through that. In the meantime, we will be pulling hardware --
(LIVE COVERAGE CONTINUES)
