The Artemis II astronauts, back from their test mission around the moon, expressed their amazement on Saturday, calling for unity on Earth after contemplating our planet’s isolation, resembling a “lifeboat” in space.
The crew spoke at a press conference as NASA celebrated the successful mission.
Surrounded by Commander Reid Wiseman and his colleagues Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen, astronaut Christina Koch made a call for solidarity to humanity.
“What impressed me was not necessarily the Earth itself, but all that darkness that surrounded it. The Earth was just a simple lifeboat suspended, motionless, in the universe”said Christina Koch, News writes.
“If there’s one thing I know now, it’s this: Planet Earth, you’re a crew“, she added.
Jeremy Hansen, for his part, invited the public to recognize themselves in the crew of this mission, carried out for the first time in history by a woman, an African-American and a non-American (Canadian Jeremy Hansen).
“When you look at us, you don’t see us. We are a mirror that reflects you.” he stated.
“And if you like what you see, then look a little further. You are the ones,” he added.
Departing on April 1 from Florida, the astronauts ventured farther into space than any human before them. They brought back thousands of photos and hundreds of gigabytes of data from the first lunar trip since the last Apollo mission in 1972.
The crew also witnessed a spectacle worthy of “science fiction,” according to pilot Victor Glover: an eclipse of the Sun behind the Moon.
“Artemis II will always be remembered. It’s the moment we all saw the Moon again, the moment childhood dreams turned into missions. You helped the world believe again, and that’s something no one will ever forget.”NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman pointed out.
Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialist Christina Koch of NASA, as well as Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency, became the first humans to travel to the Moon and return safely to Earth since the crew of the Apollo 17 mission in December 1970.
The journey of the Artemis II mission crew to the Moon, bypassing it and passing for the first time in its dark side, which is not visible from Earth, and then returning to Earth meant a distance traveled of 1,117,659 km.
