\n The astronauts arrived Saturday at Ellington Field at Johnson Space Center in Houston to cheers, a standing ovation and hugs from NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. The crewmates reunited with their families at the site for the first time since their historic 10-day journey around the moon concluded.\n <\/p>\n
\n Isaacman referred to the mission as \u201cthe greatest adventure in human history.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
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\n The crew \u2014 NASA\u2019s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen \u2014 completed a record-breaking lunar flyby. The astronauts traveled deeper into space than any human had ventured before. The Artemis II mission was a test flight, serving as an experiment to lay the groundwork for future missions. But the moment of reuniting with their loved ones has been among the most anticipated steps of the crew\u2019s journey.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cVictor, Christina and Jeremy, we are, we are bonded forever, and no one down here is ever going to know what the four of us just went through,\u201d Wiseman said. \u201cAnd it was the most special thing that will ever happen in my life.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Wiseman acknowledged that no one will truly know what the crew\u2019s families went through.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThis was not easy being 200,000-plus miles away from home,\u201d Wiseman said. \u201cLike, before you launch it feels like it\u2019s the greatest dream on Earth, and when you\u2019re out there, you just want to get back to your families and your friends. It\u2019s a special thing to be a human and it\u2019s a special thing to be on planet Earth.\u201d Wiseman was visibly choked up, and the four crewmembers stood to hug on stage.\n <\/p>\n
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\n Glover admitted he has not fully processed the entire mission and \u201cwhat we just did\u201d yet, but was full of gratitude.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cWhen this started, I wanted to thank God in public, and I want to thank God again, because even bigger than my challenge trying to describe what we went through, the gratitude of seeing what we saw, doing what we did, and being with who I was with, it\u2019s too big to just be in one body,\u201d Glover said.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cAnd I wanted to thank our families for everything,\u201d he added. \u201cI love you, but not just those five beautiful cocoa-skinned ladies right there,\u201d Glover said, gesturing to his family. \u201cAll of you.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
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\n Koch shared that her nurse on the Navy recovery ship asked her for a hug last night, one of many great \u201chuman moments\u201d that began and ended the mission, she said. Artemis II truly taught her the meaning of what it is to be part of a crew, Koch said.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cA crew is a group that is in it all the time, no matter what, that is stroking together every minute with the same purpose, that is willing to sacrifice silently for each other, that gives grace, that holds accountable,\u201d Koch said. \u201cA crew has the same cares and the same needs, and a crew is inescapably beautifully, dutifully linked.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
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\n She said one of her strongest revelations came while observing Earth appear tiny through the window of Orion, and all of the blackness around it.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI know I haven\u2019t learned everything that this journey has yet to teach me,\u201d Koch said. \u201cBut there\u2019s one new thing I know, and that is planet Earth: You are a crew.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
Shared humanity and family ties<\/p>\n
\n Hansen also noted that the human experience has been an extraordinary one for him and his crewmates \u2014 and seemed thrilled to learn it was the same way for everyone on Earth who followed the mission.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe have a term in our crew that we coined a long time ago, the \u2018joy train,\u2019\u201d Hansen said. \u201cAnd it sounds like you saw a lot of joy up there. There was a lot of joy. We\u2019re not always on the joy train, this crew, there are many times we\u2019re not on the joy train, but we are committed to getting back on the joy train as soon as we can. And that is a useful life skill for any team trying to get something done.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Hansen asked his crewmates to stand with him as he talked about love.\n <\/p>\n
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\n \u201cWhat you saw was a group of people who loved contributing, having meaningful contribution and extracting joy out of that,\u201d Hansen said. \u201cAnd what we\u2019ve been hearing is that was something special for you to witness. I would suggest to you that when you look up here, you\u2019re not looking at us. We are a mirror reflecting you, and if you like what you see, then just look a little deeper. This is you.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n During the trip, the astronauts were able to speak with their spouses and children via brief, remote calls. Wiseman, the mission commander, said the experience of listening to his crewmates\u2019 conversations while crammed together aboard the 16.5-foot-wide (5-meter-wide) Orion spacecraft was a remarkable bonding experience.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cHearing your crewmates giggling and crying and just gasping and listening and loving their families from afar,\u201d Wiseman said, has been the \u201cneatest\u201d bonding experience.\n <\/p>\n