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Artemis II Astronauts Hold News Conference on Moon Mission. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired April 16, 2026 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:30:00]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: ... We hear from them.

GARRETT REISMAN, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Yes, fight on, Jessica. So I am hoping, I'm just hoping to hear more of their message, which has been one of unity. It's been one of celebrating their differences and one of expressing the impression they got of Earth from space as being evident that we're all kind of living on this one planet where the things that unite us are so much more important than the things that divide us.

And I just want to hear more of that moon joy, basically. I mean, I think it's given all the other news being so kind of depressing, it's really wonderful medicine for us to be hearing this uplifting message.

DEAN: Yes.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Yes, no doubt. And Ed, over to you. What are you anticipating we'll hear from them?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, I think there's going to be so many questions. How do you even begin asking questions of a crew like this that has been through so much? So I think there are some real technical questions and some of the newsier questions as to exactly how the capsule endured, questions about the heat shield and the condition of it as it came back through the re- entry.

But I think, you know, there's just the bigger questions about this is the very early stages of the Artemis II plan. So Artemis II went around the moon, future missions will be furthering those tests. And eventually the goal here is to put astronauts back on the moon.

Where does this crew, Artemis II, and what has happened here and what has unfolded over the last three years with this program, what does this mean for the future of this? But I think really, you know, at this moment, these are four astronauts that have simply captivated the world. They've captivated Americans here.

You know, just look at the videos of Victor Glover's homecoming into his neighborhood. Hundreds of people turning out, him stopping and talking to his neighbors. Christina Koch posting videos of her dog welcoming her home, going off to the beach as well. You know, these are people who are just extremely relatable to most Americans and most people around the world and people who have had one of the most extraordinary experiences any of us could imagine. So those kinds of questions are just, you know, top of mind. Like how do you even begin?

These are people I want to have over at my house and spend, you know, an entire weekend speaking with, much less trying to cram a bunch of questions into what will probably be about an hour-long press conference.

DEAN: Yes, I know. Do you really hit the nail on the head, Garrett, because you're talking about the moon joy and the way that they have been able to talk about this. And I think that's what's made this so unique is the way in which they've been able to communicate with so many people and really make what is such a specific experience to them feel universal.

In addition to that, they gathered so much scientific data while they were out there. They had to learn new language from geologists and all kinds of things to be able to report back what they were seeing. And I know they had a list of science questions they wanted to get to.

So in terms of the science of all of this and the discoveries, how long will it take to kind of sort through all of that and begin to glean some information from that?

REISMAN: Yes. So, you know, their observations that they made, they were the first humans to see some parts of the moon with the naked eye. And so it's different when you see it in situ.

And when you're present there, the observations you can make are very valuable. So all the scientists are going to want to sit down with them and pick their brains and get every morsel of information out of them that they can. And it's going to be great to hear their debrief.

But really, I think more valuable than any of the scientific observations that they made was the observations they made at looking at Earth, not looking at the moon that nobody had seen before, but looking at the Earth and saying that, you know what? We all live in this one little precious blue dot going through the black void of space. And we need to find a way to take good care of this home of ours and to take care of each other.

DEAN: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Powerful message. Let's go ahead and listen in. Reid Wiseman is speaking.

REID WISEMAN, ARTEMIS II COMMANDER: For one minute, and then I'll hand it back to Courtney. But this NASA organization and our international partners, they put together this amazing vehicle, the Orion spacecraft that we named Integrity atop the Space Launch System, riding to the moon on a European service module.

They provided this massive structure that was able to push four humans around the moon and bring them safely back. So thank you to every single person that had a hand in building that machine, because it was a magnificent machine. But then we would also be remiss if we didn't thank the media, if we didn't thank the content creators, and if we didn't thank the world for just tuning in for a second and getting hooked on this mission.

We were certainly hooked on this mission, but when we came home, we were shocked at the global outpouring of support, of pride, of ownership of this mission. 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.

And then I'll just wrap that all up with the astronauts' creed is always to launch as friends and land as friends.

[14:35:00]

And when you live together in a small group for as long as you do on the space station or even 10 days, that's a challenge. But I am here to tell the world, we launched as friends and we came back as best friends.

Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. And with that, we will begin taking questions. Due to the limited time we have today and the high volume of requests, we ask that media limit themselves to one question, please. We'll start here in the room with Will. Go ahead.

WILL ROBINSON-SMITH, SPACEFLIGHT NOW: Hi, Will Robinson-Smith with Spaceflight Now. It's wonderful to see you all again in person this time. Question, for reasons you brought up, the name of your spacecraft and announced it back in September when we last saw you here in person.

Integrity, you mentioned, was not only the name of the spacecraft, but the ethos that you wanted to embody throughout the course of the training, the mission, and when you got back here on Earth. So I wonder, having spent nine plus days physically in Integrity, how you found yourself being in Integrity, you know, emotionally and practically as it was to exercise the spacecraft for the first time? Thank you.

WISEMAN: Well, you addressed it to me, so I'll take it. You know, we've talked a lot about Integrity and for folks that have followed us, there's a saying that we learned from one of our National Outdoor Leadership School instructors, Integrity is not a one or a zero. You don't either have it or not have it.

You can be in Integrity, and you can be out of Integrity. And I will tell you, I'll be the first to admit that there were moments on this mission where I was out of Integrity because sometimes the view or the human experience would just pull me away from the work. And it just, it happens and it's a beautiful thing to get to witness what we got to witness. But at the end of the day, you got to do the mission too. And so there were moments where I was out of Integrity. There was moments where each of us would fall out for a second.

But the coolest part of that word I was reflecting on last night, like we named that spacecraft Integrity and it just kind of coalesced this thread in the four of us. And whenever someone would slip out, it was amazing to watch the other three pull them back in. And what a glorious thing.

Anybody want to add anything for Integrity? It's just such the perfect name for this group and this spacecraft.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to take a few more questions here in the room and then go over to our phone bridge. Just a reminder for those on the phone bridge to please press star one when you're ready to enter the queue. Go ahead.

NICK NATARIO, ABC13: I'm Nick Natario with ABC13. I want to talk to you all about the magnitude of what you all just did. So to give you some idea, ABC on the splashdown coverage alone, 10 million people watched our network that day, just splashdown.

That's not the launch, the lunar flyby. And I got to tell you, one of those viewers was my daughter, Ellie, who turned four during your mission. And she was mesmerized by what you all were doing.

She wasn't talking about her big bluey birthday party. She wasn't talking about the gifts that she got. Every night I came home from JSC, she said, Daddy, Ellie, go to space. She was infatuated.

When you hear stuff like that and the amount of people that were interested in what you've done, has the gravity yet hit you about this mission? And you know, how has it changed you as well?

VICTOR GLOVER, ARTEMIS II PILOT: You know, first, I just want to thank you for sharing that. That is wonderful to hear about your daughter. That's awesome. And thank her for creating that story.

We landed on Friday. Tomorrow will be one week. And I just was trying to live in a little hole for one week, been off social media, not on the news. So, no, I don't know. But, you know, my kids have made it pretty clear.

My neighbors and, you know, it's hard to live in a bubble nowadays. I'm trying very hard. But, you know, I think it's what I've come to realize is we did what we said we were going to do.

And now we've got to step out and just face that reality. And so that's a great thing. But I'll figure it out tomorrow.

Courtney started this by saying the crew is ready. I'm really not. But I will be next week.

JEREMY HANSEN, ARTEMIS II MISSION SPECIALIST: Do you mind if I add something? GLOVER: Please.

HANSEN: Just it's the way you were. I mean, I love your question, but you say what you guys did with the four of you did. And we just don't not see it that way.

We should be rewording that question to what we did. That's what this was. We just went up and did what we were going to do.

All we saw was a camera. We didn't have that connection with you. We lost that connection with Earth by and large.

And so we just leaned into what we had. We lean into each other and mission control, which is really all we had -- and our families a couple of times. But we did that because we had been lifted up and supported to just go up there and be ourselves and just do our job.

And we went into it thinking, you know, it's not going to be perfect, but it's going to be good enough. Seems like it was good enough.

CHRISTINA KOCH, ARTEMIS II MISSION SPECIALIST: I'll add a little bit. Just my personal perspective. When I got back as someone who doesn't necessarily like attention, I don't like my birthday, the birthday song being sung to me, any of that.

My husband said that before I got back, he had a conversation with my brothers and sisters and they were like, who's going to tell her?

[14:40:00]

Because we didn't know. And in fact, what we were told really through talking with a couple of times with our families was that there was an impact, not necessarily the number of viewers or anything like that, but that there was a positive impact, that it was superseding any lines, any identities that people had. And when my husband looked me in the eye on that video call and said, no, really, you've made a difference. It brought tears to my eyes and I said, that's all we ever wanted.

And I can tell you that the difference now is when we come before you now, we've done this together. We took your hearts with us and your hearts lifted our hearts. And now that we've done it, I think it's easier to accept that there's attention on the NASA teams, on the fact that we did it.

You know, in the beginning, three years ago, we were being celebrated for something that we hadn't done. And having put in the work and having seen our team's successes, I think we're ready to share in that inspiration and to celebrate it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, we'll take two more here in the room and then head to our phone bridge. Kristen, go ahead.

KRISTIN FISHER, THE ENDLESS VOID: Hi, Kristin Fisher with the Endless Void and welcome home. It's been such a joy watching how much this mission has gotten people so excited about space. My question is a little bit deep, so bear with me.

When Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell was returning from the moon, he had an experience so profound that when he returned to Earth, he devoted the rest of his life to studying the nature of human consciousness. And it's a theme that all four of you touched on to varying degrees at some point during the mission. And so my question is, now that you've been back on Earth for just a few days and had a little bit of time to sit with it, do any of you feel as though you had an experience similar to what Mitchell described, this sense of universal connectedness?

And did you experience somehow a shift in consciousness somehow? Thanks.

WISEMAN: Yes, Kris, it's a it's a great question. I'll just the only thing I can do is just share one quick story when I got back on the ship. I'm not really a religious person, but there was just no other avenue for me to explain anything or to experience anything.

So I asked for the chaplain on the Navy ship to just come visit us for a minute. And when that man walked in, I'd never met him before in my life. But I saw the cross on his on his collar and I just I broke down in tears like that.

It's very hard to fully grasp what we just went through. And in these short -- you just said it's been a week since we've been back, but it's been a week of medical testing, physical testing, doctors, science objectives. I would like we have not had that decompression.

We have not had that reflection time. So I'm basing this on what we saw. And when the when the sun eclipsed behind the moon, I think all four of us.

I turned to Victor and I said, I don't think humanity has evolved to the point of being able to comprehend what we are looking at right now, because it was otherworldly and it was amazing.

GLOVER: The only thing I would add is that beautiful thing. First of all, thank you for sharing that. That was a really special moment.

I was in the bed right across when the chaplain came in. And the only thing I would add is I am a religious person, but everything else is the same. It was -- there is something in there.

And as we start to process, I'll have to tell you next week, but I haven't had a chance to really unpack it all yet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, we'll take one more here in the room and then head over to our phone bridge.

KEITH GARVIN, KPRC2: Maybe not as deep, but connected. Keith Garvin with KPRC2 here in Houston. Thank you so much for taking us on your journey. And so glad that you're home.

With the technology that we have today and what we can do with videos and pictures and social media, it can still be very hard for one to convey exactly what they're seeing to everyone else. What is the most remarkable or one of the most remarkable experiences that you all had that just couldn't be fully properly conveyed through pictures and video?

And that's for any of you.

HANSEN: I can start. I was going to ask, answer Kristen's question a little bit, too. And I think these tie together.

I've been trying to find words for it. I don't really have it yet, but we just saw so many amazing things. And people ask, what's the most amazing one?

And it's you can't pick one. There are just so many amazing experiences we had. But overall, where I keep coming back to is what kept grabbing my attention when the lighting was right and we were looking at the window is that I kept seeing this like depth to, I guess, the galaxy.

[14:45:00]

You know, for what we were visually observing out there, this depth to the galaxy that I just had never experienced before. And it's not that I could tell which stars were really closer and further because it has to do with how bright they are. But because of how bright they are and their differences, they look like you can tell where they are in 3D. That was mind blowing for me. And then you see the same thing with the moon and the earth. You're viewing them from this new perspective, but this perspective with like three dimensional depth.

And I've heard Christina talk about this a lot. We're all kind of struck by these things that make us feel small. 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. And that is what, to me, is what I would try to share.

I saw it in all these sites over and over again. I kept seeing that same thing and that same feeling. Small and powerless, but yet powerful together.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, we'll head over to our phone bridge. Our next question is from Nell Greenfield with NPR.

NELL GREENFIELDBOYCE, NPR SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, welcome back, everybody. Tell me about your sleep. Have you been having any dreams of the moon?

And if so, what have the dreams been like?

KOCH: I can take this one. I've got a couple things I can say on that. One, been sleeping great since we got back.

We are tired, so I think our bodies are ready to accept any time zone of sleep that we offered. And what I've noticed, which is completely different from my first flight, and surprisingly so since my first flight was so long, is every time I've been waking up or in the first few days, I thought I was floating. I truly thought I was floating, and I had to convince myself I wasn't.

And even after 328 days in space on my previous mission, I never did the thing where you think something will float in front of you. I've done that on this return for some reason. I put a shirt in the air, and it went.

It actually surprised me. And so that's been the real thing which I've welcomed, because space sleep is the best sleep ever. It's so peaceful.

It's so comfortable. And to have a little bit of that after our mission was over so quickly has been really special.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our next question.

HANSEN: I'll just tell a little funny thing because I think you'll get a kick out of it. I sleep a lot better now because I don't have Reid underneath me kicking me.

WISEMAN: Oh, come on!

KOCH: We should talk about our first night of sleep on the ship, where we were about eight feet apart in the beds in the med bay, and it felt way too far. That was not OK.

WISEMAN: I heard Christina say, hey, can we open up these curtains and pull all the beds together, because you guys are way too far away.

KOCH: Way too far away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Our next question is from Loren Grush with Bloomberg.

LOREN GRUSH, GLOBAL SPACE REPORTER, BLOOMBERG NEWS: Hi. So good to talk to all of you, and congratulations on a successful mission. Obviously, from our perspective, it was a relatively smooth flight, but there were various moments where sensor readings would indicate an issue.

There was also an issue with extra leaking from the valves on the helium pressure system. That was brought up a few times. I'm wondering if there were any moments throughout the mission where you felt concerned from a safety standpoint, or did you feel like it was fairly smooth from your perspective?

WISEMAN: Well, I might be a bit more dramatic than some of my crewmates, so usually they do a good job of keeping the boy with a lot of hyperbole grounded, but when you look down at your display and you see 212,000 miles, and the miles are increasing, I mean, your awareness is heightened the whole time. I feel like it was -- I was looking at all four of us. I was looking at myself reflecting as well every day, and I was just looking for signs of agitation or signs of stress or signs of anxiety or tension.

In fact, I think one day we were in the med kit, and we found some medication for that purpose, and we were like, wow, I just can't even imagine taking that. Like, we were just -- we were really good. We were really, really good and really supportive of each other.

But you always know in the back of your head that something could go wrong, and I think that just builds a little bit of anxiety. And you're right. We had some pressure leaking through our PCA assembly, which I'm sure we'll talk more about in post-flight.

We had some vent line issues on the toilet that were a little bit problematic for us on the primary vent line. And then we had a few cautions and warnings that came up from time to time, and those always -- they always get your attention. We had a smoke detector go off on the next to last day.

I mean, you want to get somebody's attention really quick. Make the fire alarm go off in your spacecraft when you're still about 80,000 miles from home. And that starts off an automated sequence of shutting down the ventilation in the power system.

And that was -- it was tense. It wasn't scary, but it was tense for a few minutes until we got things reconfigured. But the thing that we drilled into our heads before we launched is no fast hands.

[14:50:00]

Let's evaluate this machine. Let's see what the machine is telling us. Let's see what Houston is telling us. And then let's come to an integrated decision.

But nothing had to happen quick. And this machine -- I was talking to our program manager last night on the phone for just a minute, Howard Hugh, and like, there are always things we need to improve, always. There are ways we need to do better living in space.

There's a way this machine needs to be improved. But my own personal opinion, they could put the Artemis III Orion on the space launch system tomorrow and launch it, and the crew would be in great shape. So this vehicle really handled very well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. Next up, we are going to head over to the Canadian Space Agency for two questions.

SARA LEAVITT FROM CBC NEWS: Yes. Hi. Sara Leavitt from CBC News. A question for Jeremy. I wanted to ask about if you've had a chance to take out the garbage since your wife was griping about chores while you were away. But I have a more serious question.

You spoke in your post-splashdown remarks about gratitude, joy, and love. And I know Reid had said that there hasn't been a lot that has sunk in yet, but I wondered if there were other emotions that have come to you since seeing Earth the way you did, since seeing the moon being the four sets of eyes that have only ever seen the far side of the moon?

HANSEN: I think what I've reflected on, and Reid covered it in his opening remarks, is I found it really refreshing to find out how people have followed the mission and been creative with the mission, and there's lots of funny stuff online. And that really resonates with me a lot. It just reinforces something I already knew, but humans are just great people in general.

We don't always do great things. We're not always in our integrity. But our default is to be good and to be good to one another.

And what we saw once we've gotten back, the little bits, I haven't seen a lot yet, but I've seen a bit. And what I've seen has brought me more joy but more hope for our future. And I just can't wait to see what we do with it next.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, and we should have one more question from CSA.

ELYSE ALLARD, RADIO-CANADA: Hi, my name is Elyse Allard. I'm from Radio-Canada, French CBC in Montreal. I have a question for Jeremy Henson en francais.

J'aimerais savoir de quelle facon cette mission-la vous a change a la fois psychologiquement, mais aussi physiquement apres tous les tests que vous avez passes.

Est-ce que vous avez eu des changements physiques et psychologiques?

HANSEN: Physical and psychological changes from the mission. Pour moi, les changements physiques, ce n'etait pas une grande chose, meme en arrivee dans l'espace et apres ici sur la Terre. Et ca, c'est une bonne chose.

J'etais capable de passer la mission et juste de faire mon travail. Alors, c'est une bonne chose. A l'autre cote, ca n'a pas vraiment change le moyen, j'ai vu, le monde, nos vies, mais ca a renforce ca beaucoup.

J'ai lance avec le point de vue que la collaboration pour l'humanite, c'est la prochaine chose qu'on doit continuer a travailler dessus. Et en vue de la terre, de la pointe de vue de la Lune, ca a renforce cet objectif pour l'humanite. Alors, j'ai un nouveau desir de travailler avec le monde pour creer ca pour nous.

C'est vraiment important pour nous. Et aussi, je veux ajouter maintenant, c'est evident pour moi qu'il faut que nous prenions des grands risques pour arriver a des grands benefices. C'est vraiment evident pour moi, ca vaut la peine.

I was just saying, you know, psychologically, really, sort of what I was talking about before is that it hasn't changed my world view so much as it's reinforced just the need for us to collaborate on this planet.

And like Christina said in her remarks when we got back, I mean, we really are a crew, and that really resonates with us. And you just see it, seeing is believing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, we'll take our next few questions here in the room. Go ahead. Mekenna Earnhart, Fox26: Hi, my name is Mekenna Earnhart, and I'm with Fox26. My question would be, Victor, when I was watching you as you all were watching the video of you all coming back down, and I heard you say, I felt that, or I saw you say that, what were you feeling?

[14:55:00]

When you come from deeper in space than we've ever been to then you can see the ocean again, what did you feel?

What was your body telling you?

GLOVER: Thank you, great question, and I'll keep my face quiet more next time. No, the moment, well, first of all, all of the things. That was a very intense 13 minutes and 36 seconds.

That moment was when the drogues released, and then the pilot shoots, and the mains came out. In Dragon, I've experienced a similar entry, and in Dragon, the drogue shoots don't release the same way and in the same sequencing. And so I don't remember feeling, you know, back to free fall from having drag or G on the vehicle.

I think those actually are still connected to the vehicle as the main shoots come out. On that vehicle, I remember feeling the yo-yo, though, as the parachutes were breathing, I could feel that 30, 20 feet moving up and down. But when the drogues cut away, we went back to free fall and watching that on the video felt almost the same way it felt in the vehicle.

I would tell you, I've never been base jumping, I've never been skydiving, but if you dove off a skyscraper backwards, that's what it felt like for five seconds. And then the mains -- the pilots and the mains came out, and it was glorious.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, we'll take our next question right here. Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey guys, I saw Christina posted you brought some Super Bowl confetti from the Eagles up there with you. I'm just curious if anybody else brought anything sports related or something that you absolutely had to take up with you.

WISEMAN: From a general sense, we all do get a very small allocation, mass allocation, and on this vehicle, it's very small. So we were just trying to think of things we could take.

Like I took a couple notes from friends and things that I had written down, some great quotes. And then I just, on my way out of my house, I just grabbed this bracelet, which my daughter had made for me a couple years ago. I was just like, I need something that I can just wear and take.

And oddly enough, like that was the -- it was the coolest thing for me to just be grounded every night when I would get my sleeping bag and I would see this thing. And it's just like, it's that connection to home, to family and to, you know, to my daughters. And that was, that was an accident.

And it was a hugely successful thing for me. It really helped me stay grounded on that mission. So those things can come out of nowhere.

Things that were so important to you when you launch can be less important in space. And things that were just an afterthought in space can become the absolute most important thing that you possibly -- that you can possibly take. So I think overall, we did a pretty good job with that.

And I've said it before, but just listening to them communicate with their families on those tiny little moments that we got to communicate with our families. We each got two chances to call. And for me, that's one of the most lasting impacts of this mission was listening to your friend and crew mate, go into this other world with this headset on for 15 minutes and giggle and laugh.

And every one of us cried. I mean, nobody didn't get through those things without crying. And then you would take those headphones off at the end.

And it was like coming back into a different universe when you would come out of that family conference. And it just reminded you how important that is right there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. We'll take one more here in the room and then head to our phone bridge. Go ahead.

JISHNU NAIR, HOUSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL: Hi, guys. Welcome back. Glad to hear that you've been sleeping well.

This is Jishnu Nair with the Houston Business Journal. And this question is for all of you coming actually from a group of our younger readers. One thing I noticed during the 10 days that you guys were up in space is that we got so many e-mails, DMs, notes, whatever, from younger folks expressing how cool it was and how they or their little brothers or their sons or daughters could get started.

And we heard from leadership on Friday as you guys were reentering. We heard from leadership that NASA wants to be doing these missions more often. They want to be doing them faster, and they want to be getting humans to the moon and beyond, hopefully.

And so from some of the first people to actually have done it in quite a while, what's one piece of advice maybe that maybe each of you could give to these younger folks who are looking skywards now?

WISEMAN: You want to just go right down the line? I would say the big thing for me, and we saw it in this mission, is I think we're starting to lose scope as a society that you do have to go do things. Like you have to go do really hard, really challenging things, and you have to go move the needle.

And that actually means like bending metal and fueling rockets, or that means inventing a new way to do surgery. But we have got to get our hands out there and engaged. Our hands and our minds have got to be engaged.

GLOVER: I think, you know, there's a professional path that folks are going to take to get into whatever profession, and then, you know, that's kind of a springboard to get this job. This is no one's first job. It's not an entry-level thing.

But I would encourage them to start now before they even are on that journey to ...

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