{"id":593309,"date":"2026-04-08T11:43:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T11:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/593309\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T11:43:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T11:43:10","slug":"the-moments-from-the-artemis-ii-mission-that-are-pulling-at-our-heartstrings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/593309\/","title":{"rendered":"The moments from the Artemis II mission that are pulling at our heartstrings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Space travel has an unsurprisingly profound impact on the rare group of people who are lucky enough to experience it. Since the days of NASA\u2019s earliest missions, psychologists have studied<\/a> what happens to the minds of people who have left the Earth and had the opportunity to view it from the vacuum of space.<\/p>\n

The four members of the Artemis II crew will undoubtedly be changed forever after voyaging farther from their home planet than anyone in history<\/a>, but the emotional effects aren\u2019t reserved for the people inside the Orion spacecraft.<\/p>\n

Many of us back on Earth have also been deeply moved by the Artemis mission as well. These are some of the moments that have resonated the most with those of us who have been watching humanity\u2019s return to the moon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho could\u2019ve guessed how badly we needed to send that little group of humans to everybody\u2019s favorite little space rock,\u201d one commenter wrote on TikTok.<\/p>\n

Naming a moon crater after an astronaut\u2019s late wife<\/p>\n

Monday was the day that the entire mission was designed for. The astronauts completed their flyby of the far side of the moon, observing the lunar surface with an unprecedented level of detail and scope. But for all the scientific milestones that were accomplished, the moment that stood out the most was a deeply human one.<\/p>\n

The Artemis crew had the opportunity to give names to craters on the moon\u2019s surface. They chose to name one of them Carroll as a tribute to mission commander Reid Wiseman\u2019s wife, who died of cancer in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bright spot on the moon \u2026 and we would like to call it Carroll,\u201d mission specialist Jeremy Hansen told mission control as he fought back tears.<\/p>\n

Seeing this emotional tribute brought countless observers to tears.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo much LOVE and JOY coming from this mission. I needed this, we all needed this,\u201d a commenter wrote on Instagram.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing human is really all we have, huh?\u201d one TikToker said in a video<\/a> that has been liked more than 800,000 times.<\/p>\n

A commenter on that clip was especially moved by the thought of what the tribute would mean for the Wiseman\u2019s two daughters: \u201cso now Katie & Ellie can look up at the moon and talk to their mom?? I am unwell,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like why is this girl crying over the moon?! And now I\u2019m crying over the moon,\u201d another wrote.<\/p>\n

Commander Wiseman\u2019s decade-old dream<\/p>\n

Social media users have gone back to a post written by Wiseman nearly 10 years ago, in which he lamented that he could only visit the moon in his dreams.<\/p>\n

\u201cDreamt I was in lunar orbit last night. Been in that post-vivid-dream-that-wasn’t-real funk all morning,\u201d he wrote on X<\/a> back in December 2016.<\/p>\n

The comments on that post are now full of messages from the past few days congratulating him on turning that dream into a reality and drawing inspiration from his successful pursuit of something so extraordinary.<\/p>\n

\u201cWake up Reid, it\u2019s not a dream anymore,\u201d one person wrote. \u201cDreams come true after all,\u201d wrote another.<\/p>\n

Christina Koch\u2019s moon selfie<\/p>\n

Mission specialist Christina Koch, who made history as the first woman to leave Earth\u2019s orbit during this mission, shared a photo of herself with the Earth glowing behind her and the caption \u201cFirst braids to leave Earth orbit. (unconfirmed).\u201d<\/p>\n

Commenters were moved by the stunning photograph and the breakthrough that it represented.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn amazing and inspiring image. Good job human beings!\u201d one person on Facebook<\/a> wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe language of hair that binds all women together \u2764\ufe0f\u2764\ufe0f congrats,\u201d wrote a commenter on Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Moon joy<\/p>\n

The astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft have done an admirable job of articulating how they have felt throughout the mission, at times sharing lengthy, poetic messages with mission control.<\/p>\n

As moving as their statements are, a much simpler phrase from mission control may become the words by which the mission is remembered. \u201cMoon joy\u201d is an all-encompassing term that has been used repeatedly to sum up the emotions that the Artemis II crew, and the team guiding them from back on Earth, are experiencing.<\/p>\n

The succinctness and purity of the term have resonated with fans of space travel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was grinning ear to ear hearing their excitement. This was a highlight of the whole event so far. \u2026 This is why space will always inspire us,\u201d one person wrote on X.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most perfectly understated response to astronauts losing their minds over seeing the Moon up close for the first time,\u201d wrote another.<\/p>\n

Liftoff itself<\/p>\n

Rocket launches are awesome<\/a>. The noise, the bright flames, the wonder of watching an object that\u2019s so massive lift from the Earth\u2019s surface. Thanks to the emergence of the private space industry, launches aren\u2019t all that rare<\/a> anymore. But there was still something special about the start of the Artemis mission that resonated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis moment was when I started crying for the first time during the launch \u2026 there were others,\u201d one Facebook commenter wrote alongside a video<\/a> NASA posted of the launch.<\/p>\n

When asked by a newscaster why he was excited to be there, a young boy who was at the launch in person may have put it best: \u201cWe\u2019re going back to the frickin\u2019 moon, that\u2019s why!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Loss of signal<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most nerve-racking moment of the Artemis mission so far was the 40-minute window when the spacecraft lost all contact with Earth as it traveled around the far side of the moon. Though a \u201closs of signal\u201d period is a normal part of lunar travel, it still provided some emotionally charged moments when the astronauts said goodbye to the rest of humankind and when they regained contact with home on the other side.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we prepare to go out of radio communication, we\u2019re still going to feel your love from Earth,\u201d pilot Victor Glover said shortly before the signal died.<\/p>\n

One commenter described the message as \u201cthe first day in a long while these last few years that\u2019s given me hope for humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Koch shared her own moving sentiment when the signal was restored, saying that no matter how far humankind chooses to travel, \u201cwe will always choose Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFloating around in that capsule dropping pure poetry like its nothing,\u201d a commenter on X wrote: \u201cartemis ii you got me again.\u201d<\/p>\n