Artemis II astronauts answered a question from the Treasure Coast on the night before their scheduled return to Earth.
The crew took questions from members of Congress across the nation on April 9 during their last briefing before their capsule splashes down in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego, California, on the night of April 10.
The live call was streamed on NASA’s YouTube channel, and the splashdown also will be streamed live on the same channel.
During the call, U.S. Rep. Mike Haridopolos asked a question on behalf of an Indian River County voter named Renee.
“What were you thinking when you were going around the moon, the farthest ever from Earth, on the dark side of the moon?” Haridopolos asked. “We’d love to hear your thoughts as you made your way around the moon out of radio contact.”
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Pilot Victor Glover — alongside fellow astronauts Mission Specialist Christina Koch, Commander Reid Wiseman and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen — answered the question on behalf of his crew:
“During the time of the nearest approach to the moon, we were doing so much science that I took a brief moment to say a short prayer of gratitude for being sent on this mission and trusted with bringing back scientifically relevant information.”
“I was hoping that people looked up and were watching to see when we came back into communication — and maybe there was a chance that folks would feel a sense of togetherness. We have a moment of silence whenever something is solemn and requires reverence, or someone that we love has passed away, but maybe we could call it a moment of togetherness.”
“You heard the word togetherness a lot from our crew, and I really was hoping while we were waiting to get back in contact that people could just feel that sense of togetherness — that we were all a crew on spaceship Earth.”
The crew members of Artemis II embrace following the historic lunar flyby April 6, during which the astronauts flew farther from Earth than anyone in human history while seeing sights of the moon’s far side never seen in person.
Haridopolos fielded questions from constituents to ask during the live call with the crew on their final full day in space as their Orion spacecraft continued trekking back toward Earth.
The Artemis II astronauts, who launched toward the moon from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral on April 1, are scheduled to splash down in the Pacific at 8:07 p.m. EDT April 10.
Laurie K. Blandford is a breaking news reporter with TCPalm. Email her at laurie.blandford@tcpalm.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Artemis II astronauts answer question from Florida before splashdown