'Broke down in tears': Artemis II crew recall 'otherworldly' experience of their trip to the Moon

Six days after returning to Earth, the four astronauts of Nasa’s Artemis II addressed their first joint press conference on Thursday at Nasa's Johnson Space Center, accompanied by their zero-gravity indicator mascot “Rise”, saying their historic journey around the Moon fostered a rare sense of global unity while reflecting on the landmark crewed mission.Commander Reid Wiseman opened the briefing by thanking his crewmates, saying the mission would not have been possible without their support. “We are bonded forever. I mean, that's the closest where humans can be and not be a family,” he said, referring to Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, Fox News reported.The crew, Wiseman, pilot Glover, mission specialist Koch and Canadian astronaut Hansen, described the nearly 10-day mission as both technically significant and deeply human.“When we came home, we were shocked at the global outpouring of support, of pride, of ownership of this mission,” Wiseman said. “We wanted to go out and try to do something that would bring the world together to unite the world”, he added.The mission marked the first time humans have travelled as far as the Moon since the Apollo era. During the flight, the Orion capsule reached a maximum distance of 252,756 miles (406,771 km) from Earth, surpassing the previous record of 248,655 miles set by Apollo 13 in 1970. The milestone was achieved on the Moon’s far side, marking the farthest distance ever covered by humans in space.Reflecting on the emotional impact, Koch said hearing about the mission’s influence left her overwhelmed. “When my husband… said, ‘No, really, you’ve made a difference’, it brought tears to my eyes,” she told reporters. Glover underscored the collective nature of the achievement, saying, “We… as countries and as humans did this”.The astronauts also recounted the physical intensity of re-entry. “If you dove off… a skyscraper backwards, that’s what it felt like for five seconds,” Glover said, describing a brief free-fall phase. Wiseman noted they “came in faster… came in hot” due to a modified trajectory, while officials are assessing the heat shield’s performance after signs of “char loss”.Reid Wiseman said the toilet functioned normally but waste liquid clogged a vent line, limiting system capacity and requiring careful management, adding that “the toilet flushed just fine, but when the liquid went out… it got clogged up in our vent line,” with engineers now assessing the exact cause.Despite minor issues, including a clogged toilet system that malfunctioned recurrently, the Orion spacecraft named Integrity impressed the crew. Wiseman called it a “magnificent machine”, thanking those involved in its development, and remarked that, had a lunar lander been onboard, “at least three” of them would have attempted a landing. Beyond technical milestones, the astronauts highlighted the psychological impact of viewing Earth from deep space. Hansen said it left him with “more hope for our future”, while Wiseman described breaking down in tears as he tried to process witnessing a solar eclipse from lunar distance "I'm not really a religious person," he said, adding "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... and I broke down in tears."I don't think humanity has evolved to the point of being able to comprehend what we're looking at right now, because it was otherworldly.'The crew also shared their bond had deepened profoundly through the mission. “That’s the closest four humans can be and not be a family,” Wiseman said.