{"id":375617,"date":"2026-04-12T07:37:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T07:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/375617\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T07:37:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T07:37:15","slug":"artemis-ii-astronaut-urges-unity-on-lifeboat-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/375617\/","title":{"rendered":"Artemis II astronaut urges unity on ‘lifeboat’ Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Artemis<\/p>\n

\nThe Artemis II astronauts (left to right) Jeremy Hansen, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Reid Wiseman salute a welcoming ceremony for them in Houstons.
\nPhoto: AFP\/ Ronaldo Schemidt\n<\/p>\n

The freshly returned Artemis II astronauts have expressed awe over their recordsetting lunar flyby mission, urging unity on Earth, after witnessing the planet’s isolation like a “lifeboat” in space.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the crew spoke for the first time since their return at a news conference, as NASA took a victory lap following the success of the mission.<\/p>\n

The astronauts did the first slingshot around the Moon in more than 50 years and travelled deeper into space than any humans before, culminating in a smooth splashdown<\/a> on Friday, off the coast of California.<\/p>\n

What Artemis has done for the future of human life in space<\/a><\/p>\n

Flanked on stage by mission commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen, astronaut Christina Koch called for people on Earth to embrace their shared humanity.<\/p>\n

“What struck me wasn’t necessarily just Earth, it was all the blackness around it,” said Koch. “Earth was just this lifeboat hanging undisturbingly in the universe.<\/p>\n

“There’s one new thing I know and that is Planet Earth – you are a crew.”<\/p>\n

Hansen called on fans of the Artemis mission to see themselves in the crew of four, who marked a series of milestones: Glover was the first person of colour to fly around the Moon, Koch was the first woman and Canadian Hansen the first non-American.<\/p>\n

“I would suggest to you that when you look up here, you’re not looking at us,” Hansen said. “We are a mirror reflecting you and, if you like what you see, then just look a little deeper.<\/p>\n

“This is you.”<\/p>\n

What was Artemis II really about? Power, progress, positivity<\/a><\/p>\n

While hurtling through deep space and zipping around the Moon, the Artemis astronauts took thousands of photographs, amassing a stunning portfolio of images.<\/p>\n

They also witnessed a solar eclipse, along with extraordinary meteorite strikes on the lunar surface.<\/p>\n

“Artemis II will always be remembered,” NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said. “It was the moment we all saw the moon again, where childhood dreams became missions.<\/p>\n

“You helped the world start believing again and this is something no-one’s ever going to forget.”<\/p>\n

Artemis II was the inaugural crewed mission of NASA’s programme aiming to install a sustained presence on the Moon, including the eventual construction of a base that could be used for further exploration including to Mars.<\/p>\n

NASA hopes it can put boots on the lunar surface as soon as 2028.<\/p>\n

– AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Artemis II astronauts (left to right) Jeremy Hansen, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Reid Wiseman salute a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45613,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45,147,392],"class_list":{"0":"post-375617","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz","18":"tag-science","19":"tag-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}