{"id":207406,"date":"2026-04-12T09:45:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T09:45:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/we-are-bonded-forever-artemis-ii-astronauts-speak-on-completing-their-historic-moon-mission-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T09:45:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T09:45:27","slug":"we-are-bonded-forever-artemis-ii-astronauts-speak-on-completing-their-historic-moon-mission-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/we-are-bonded-forever-artemis-ii-astronauts-speak-on-completing-their-historic-moon-mission-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"'We are bonded forever': Artemis II astronauts speak on completing their historic moon mission – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The four Artemis II astronauts said Saturday that they\u2019re \u201cbonded forever\u201d in their first public remarks since completing<\/a> NASA\u2019s first lunar mission in more than 50 years.
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Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen took the stage at Ellington Field in Houston to raucous applause.
\u201cWe are bonded forever, and no one down here is ever going to know what the four of us just went through, and it was the most special thing that will ever happen in my life,\u201d Wiseman said.
\u201cBefore 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,\u201d Wiseman said. \u201cIt\u2019s a special thing to be a human, and it\u2019s a special thing to be on planet Earth.\u201d
The four arrived safely back on Earth on Friday, splashing down into the Pacific Ocean <\/a>off the coast of San Diego in their Orion capsule after their 10-day trip around the moon.
With the completion of their mission, they became the first humans to see the entire far side of the moon, which permanently faces away from Earth, with their own eyes.
\u201cEven 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 \u2014 it\u2019s too big to just be in one body,\u201d Glover said.
Koch spoke on the importance of a crew that is \u201cinescapably, beautifully, dutifully linked.\u201d
\u201cWhen we saw tiny Earth, people asked our crew what impressions we had. And honestly, what struck me wasn\u2019t necessarily just Earth, it was all the blackness around it. Earth was just this lifeboat hanging undisturbingly in the universe,\u201d she said, pausing with emotion.
\u201cI know I haven\u2019t learned everything that this journey has yet to teach me, but there\u2019s one new thing I know, and that is, planet Earth: You. Are. A. Crew,\u201d she added.
When it was Hansen\u2019s turn to speak, the Canadian astronaut joked, \u201cThis is the furthest I\u2019ve been away from Reid in a long time.\u201d
Hansen said he has gained gratitude, joy and love\u00a0from the mission. He asked the crew to gather, and they put their arms around each other as he spoke on love.
\u201cWhat you saw was a group of people who loved contributing, having meaningful contribution, and extracting joy out of that. And what we\u2019ve been hearing is that was something special for you to witness,\u201d Hansen said.
\u201cAnd the reason I had them form up here with me is because 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 he added, to a standing ovation.
The four astronauts also set a new record for the farthest distance humans have traveled from Earth, 252,756 miles. The previous record of 248,655 miles was set by the Apollo 13 crew in 1970 during their emergency return to Earth.
There were other historical firsts as well. Koch was the first woman, Glover the first person of color and Hansen the first non-American on a lunar mission.
The four-person crew also became the first to launch aboard NASA\u2019s Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule<\/a>.
The astronauts were able to capture stunning photos of the moon\u2019s far side<\/a> that were splashed on the front pages of newspapers across the country this week. The photos captured never-before-seen features on the lunar surface, including rugged topography with countless craters, ridges, mountains and ancient lava plains.
NASA said these pictures will help researchers understand how the moon formed and how its landscape has changed over time.
NASA aims to launch the next mission, Artemis III, in mid-2027. The space agency plans on sending astronauts to land on the moon in a mission called Artemis IV in 2028.
Matt Lavietes is a reporter for NBC News.
Marlene Lenthang is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeThe four Artemis II astronauts said Saturday that they\u2019re \u201cbonded forever\u201d in their first public remarks since completing NASA\u2019s first lunar mission in more than 50 years.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":207407,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-207406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}