Astronauts on the Artemis 2 mission described in a press conference Thursday the emotional impact they felt observing Earth from deep space and commented on the minor technical difficulties they faced on the mission.
The crew of NASA’s Artemis 2 mission, consisting of Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover and Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, held its first press conference a week after the mission ended at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. This event marked the first opportunity for the crew to discuss their historic 10-day mission, during which they became the first humans to travel around the Moon and returned safely, with a successful landing in Pacific waters on April 10, writes Agerpres.
Pilot Victor Glover described the feelings that tried him observing the Earth from deep space. He said he felt small and insignificant in front of the grandeur of the cosmos, but at the same time he felt big and strong as a member of the mission team and as a representative of all humanity.
Almost a week after returning to Earth, the astronauts of the Artemis 2 mission are already thinking about what it would be like to step on the moon, reports The New York Times.
“I’m telling you right now. If we’d had a first launch module on board the ship, I know at least three of my crewmates would have been in it, trying to launch.”said Reid Wiseman, the NASA astronaut who served as Artemis 2 mission commander.
Reid Wiseman said that the next major step of the Artemis program, to return astronauts to the surface of the Moon, is not a huge leap. “It’s going to be an extremely big challenge from a technical point of view, but this team has to know every day that it’s (a goal) absolutely achievable and that it’s achievable soon.” he also said.
As for the connection formed between the crew members, “we’re bonded forever,” Wiseman said. “It’s the closest bond that can be formed between four people who are not part of the same family (…) It was just an amazing adventure and all the crew members encouraged each other the whole time.”
The four astronauts talked about their experiences and how almost everything went well, although the spacecraft threw up a few technical surprises during the 10-day mission, the first for astronauts to leave low Earth orbit since 1972.
“We had a smoke detector go off on the penultimate day,” Reid Wiseman said. “Want to get someone’s attention really fast? Sound the fire alarm in a spaceship when you’re still about 130,000 kilometers from home.”
Regarding the already famous toilet of the Orion capsule, the mission commander stated that this “she was wonderful” despite the problems it caused, which he said were related to the ventilation system, EFE also notes.
“I just want to say, 100% straight: it was a wonderful toilet. The toilet worked great. Where we had a problem – and it was a real problem, for sure – was in our main vent.”Wiseman explained.
“The toilet flushed perfectly, but when the liquid came out of the bowl, it got stuck in our vent,” he added.
The Orion capsule’s toilet was one of the unexpected stars of the Artemis 2 mission after it began malfunctioning shortly after launch despite a $23 million investment.
Reid Wiseman stated that the main ventilation line “has been obstructed or blocked” for reasons still unknown and urged the engineers who built this toilet “not to give up”.
“It was an excellent piece of equipment. And what did we learn from this situation? Well, that there are always things we need to improve”he summarized.
In a social media post Thursday morning, Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist for the Artemis 2 mission, described how the crew would run simulations of walking on the moon’s surface during future missions.
Thursday’s appearance followed an emotional reunion with family, friends and fellow astronauts in Houston on Saturday.
The crew returned to Earth on Friday, landing off the coast of San Diego.
They were the first humans to leave low Earth orbit since 1972 and have traveled further from the planet than any humans before them.
