ARTEMIS II Astronauts Answer Questions Going to Moon

ARTEMIS II Astronauts Answer Questions Going to Moon

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A live astronaut interview during a lunar mission in which the crew describes launch, life aboard the spacecraft, and the emotional weight of traveling to the moon. They discuss the smoothness of the ride, the beauty of Earth from space, sleeping in weightlessness, a minor toilet and cabin-pressure issue that was resolved, and the excitement of continuing toward the moon. Overall, the conversation emphasizes teamwork, gratitude to families and supporters, and the mission’s symbolic significance as a shared human achievement.

Integrity Houston, you ready for the event?Houston Integrity, we are ready for the event. ABC News, this is mission control Houston. Please call Integrity for a voice check. Integrity, this is Gio Bonitez at ABC News.

How do you hear me?Outstanding. We have you loud and clear. How about us?I hear you loud and clear and I truly cannot believe it. You are quite literally on the way to the moon right now and still speaking with us.

Tell me, how do you feel?What’s going through your mind?I mean, this must be so incredible because have you allowed the weight of the moment to really fit in here?Have you have you allowed that to happen?you allow that to happen?Well, first and foremost, we all wanted to give a shout out to our families first because we are pretty far from Earth and we have not gotten to say hi to them yet. U but there was a a moment uh about an hour ago where mission control Houston reoriented our spacecraft as the sun was setting behind the earth. And I don’t know what we all expected to see at that moment, but you could see the entire globe from pole to pole. You could see uh Africa, Europe, and as if you looked really close, you could see the northern lights.

It was the most spectacular moment, and it paused all four of us in our tracks. What has been most surprising to you about this so far?Well, I think probably one of the things that surprised all of us is when those solid rocket boosters actually lit and we left the pad. It was just a moment of disbelief and yeah, the fact that we launched it just it it just totally takes you by surprise even though you’re expecting it. At least for me anyway.

minutes And I just had a huge smile across my face. Did it feel different?Because I can imagine that’s such a powerful rocket that must have felt different for you. One of the biggest surprises was how smooth riding those solids was. We all expected a really just dynamic ride, a lot of motion.

We were prepared to potentially not being able to see telemetry, maybe even not being able to, you know, touch switches and it was very smooth. There was a a definite difference when they separated and we were just on the main engines, but just a steady rumble and uh a great ride. What do you want to tell Americans here at home who are watching this right now?They’re quite amazed at the fact that you are speaking to us on the way to the moon right now. What do you want to tell them about this particular mission and why it’s so important?First and foremost, I would just like to say thank you.

Uh your support and trust in us has uh enabled this and so many people that have worked for so long to make this possible. Uh but also we’re just getting started. You know, we’ve worked really hard and even though we were a little surprised to actually launch yesterday, uh we have a lot of mission left ahead of us and so I really want to tell them stay tuned and and keep uh keep tabs on what’s going on. NASA’s doing a great job of communicating all the things to come.

I can’t even tell you how many cheers were there on the ground. I was there watching you all lift off from the Kennedy Space Center and everyone was so excited, so happy, and that was just incredible. Jeremy, I know this is your first time in space and you’re surrounded by all of these space vets. What’s it been like for you that this is your first mission there?Uh there has been a tremendous amount of disbelief uh for me.

It’s just so extraordinary. Um I just kept saying to them yesterday like I really like it up here. [laughter] I wish I could have got here sooner. It’s just such a tremendous place to be.

The views are extraordinary. It’s really fun to be floating around and uh it just makes me feel like a little kid. I I heard that there was a little bit of an issue with the toilet. Which one of you was the plumber?I’ll take that one.

I’m the space plumber. I’m proud of to call myself the space plumber. I like to say that it is probably the most important piece of equipment on board. So, we were all breathing a sigh of relief when it turned out to be just fine.

It was just an issue, I think, of sitting for a long time and needing a little time to warm up, a priming issue. But we did originally think that there could have been potentially something fouling up minutes, second the motor. And luckily, we are all systems go. Oh, well, I’m sure I could see the faces right there.

Y’all are very happy about that. I see that you’re very cozy in there. It’s tight quarters. Uh, but it was also a little chilly, I heard.

It is quite cold and uh yeah, we’re wishing we had the uh the the uh lower temperature sleeping bags with us. Uh but uh right before it this PAO event started, I pulled my Nick cap off and I’m ready to put it back on. Uh but Houston’s been working with us to change fan speeds and and temperature set points and we’ve actually been able to warm it up a lot better in the last uh half a day or so. last our last nap before TLI, we uh we got a lot more comfortable.

Well, that’s a really interesting question. How is it that you take a nap in there?What [laughter] what does sleeping even look like?Well, let’s see. So, we we’ve been off the planet for what about hours now, and we’ve had two very short naps. We actually just gathered for our first meal together in space.

That is how busy we have been the last uh day and a half. It has been really uh an amazing beginning flight plan. But sleeping here is uh it’s actually sort of comical. Uh Christina has been sleeping heads down in the middle of the vehicle kind of like a bat suspended from our docking tunnel.

Uh Victor’s been up where Jeremy is right now. He’s got a nice little nook wedged in there. And then Jeremy has been uh stretched out on seat one. And I’ve been uh sleeping under under the displays just in case anything goes wrong.

It’s it’s more comfortable than you would think. Uh, and it’s it’s nice it’s nice to sleep in weightlessness again. Every time I was dozing off last night, I had that image that I was tripping off a curb and I was waking myself up. So, my body’s getting re-aclimated.

It’s been a few years since I’ve been up here. I’ve heard it’s the best sleep up in space. Do you feel the weight of history knowing that you’re going to be traveling farther than any other human?You know, it’s uh it’s an remarkable thing. It’s uh it you would think it would be weighty, but uh it’s we just feel like we’re lifted up by the team that supports us and you just sort of execute the plan.

a lot of people telling us uh how to work this and manage this vehicle and a lot of great training and you just kind of go step by step which I think is pretty remarkable what this team can do and it really highlights their excellence and I think I just want to add you know we just got done our trans lunar injection burn and it was pretty tense moments there. Uh it was pretty tense moments there for a for a second and when we got done that burn we just kind of looked at each other as a crew. We have been to the moon before in through It’s been a long time since we’ve been back. And I got to tell you, there is nothing normal about this.

Sending four humans m away is a herculean effort. And we are now just realizing the gravity of that. Yeah. Nothing normal about this.

What are you most excited about once you get to the moon?Having just experienced incredible views of planet Earth and seeing the entire planet out the window in one pain, knowing that we’re about to have some similar views of the moon in that same way is definitely getting me more excited for it. I knew that that is what we would see, but there’s nothing that prepares you for the breathtaking aspect of seeing your home planet both lit up bright as day and also the moon glow on it at night with a beautiful beam of the sunset and knowing that we’re going to get similar views of the moon. I’m just I’m really excited for that. And then of course heading home.

Right now we’re in our cruise phase outbound. Um but we’ll be turning our sights back on our home planet shortly. shorter. Probably it’s going to fly by, but we’re just excited for both of those milestones.

As you all know, there is so much division at home right now. What is it that you’re feeling and what message do you want to send to the American people about what you’re saying out that window?Well, the first thing I would say is uh trust us. You look amazing. You look beautiful.

And from up here, you also look like one thing. You know, Homo sapiens is all of us. No matter where you’re from or or uh you know what you look like, we’re all one people. And so, you know, this mission, one of the things that’s amazing about being around and just being in an astronaut, you know, serving our countries at this time is that we get to to give ourselves a mission that we can hold on to to say, “Hey, look at what we did for for for the rest of our lives.

” You know, we call amazing things that humans do moonshots for a reason because this brought us together and showed us what we can do when we put not just putting our differences aside when we bring our differences together and use all the strengths to accomplish something great. And so this mission will give us one of those that we all can remember and and hold on to for the rest of our days. And I hope I hope people will tune in and and uh give us a chance. Integrity, what an honor to speak with you.

Thank you so much. Thank you for being with us. Integrity. Integrity.

This is Houston ACR. That concludes the ABC News portion of the event. Please stand by for a voice check from Fox News. Ready?Integrity.

This is Trace Gallagher with Fox News. How do you hear me?Hey, Trace, we got you loud and clear. How about us?Uh, I’ve got you. I’ve got you loud and clear.

I want to explain to the audience that there is a -se secondond delay. So, there’ll be some pause between the questions and the answers. Congratulations. How does it feel to be the first humans to leave Earth’s orbit in some years?Is there a difference in Earth’s orbit and being outside the orbit?Well, we are still technically in Earth’s orbit, although we did just do our trans lunar injection burn and so we are definitely % on our way to the moon.

Uh the lunar gravity will take over in a in a couple of days here and start pulling us around the far side. At the end of our trans lunar injection minutes here about an hour and a half ago, we just really looked at each other and and I know I know the United States has done this through but it’s just this is unbelievable that we can put our minds to something and pull it off. This is this is an unbelievable technical accomplishment. Yeah, I mean it really is unbelievable to us.

We watched this thing. It was just this flawless launch and it was unbelievable to watch. What I what really fascinates me about this is that you in a few days will become the the first humans to travel the farthest in space more than anybody else has ever done. It took us a long time to get back here and now we’re about to exceed that.

Is that a a moment of pride?Is it a moment of history?How do we feel about that?It’s great you brought that up. We were aware that we would pass that milestone if we happen to launch on this date. minutes There were other days where we wouldn’t have necessarily. So, we are not necessarily a crew that lives on superlatives, but it is a milestone that’s important.

It’s important that people can understand and wrap their heads around what is the latest in what we’re doing. What does this mean relative to what we’ve done in the past?What are we going to be pushing for into the future?We think that the journey that we’ve been on and all of our teams have been on with us is so much more than just one number, but we also hope that that number just keeps being exceeded and exceeded by the future crews. That’s why we’re here to build a legacy for the future. You know, it’s interesting because yesterday, I mean, this thing went off almost perfectly, right?It was on time.

Was that surprising?Because you know, you look back just in recent history and missions tend to be delayed. Sometimes hours, sometimes days. This thing went pretty much according to what everybody was hoping it would do. Was that somewhat surprising when they said we are a go for launch?Yes.

[laughter] You know, it was um it was surprising. I think we were uh you know, we we we like to say that we’re prepared without having an expectation. Uh but you know, in the back of your mind, you kind of hope you launch. And then when we got really close, it was like, wait, we’re we’re getting ready to go to space.

And when those solids lit, you know, it was uh a ride where you’re trying to be professional, but the the kid inside of you wants to break out and just hoot and holler. But uh what I wanted to say about that was our exploration ground systems team, our launch control team, they have had some time to practice since February and March and really dial in their procedures and and learn and grow. And so I just want to give them some credit. It was a an an an example of how hard they’ve been working lately that we launched.

And it was it it even though we we didn’t get to really watch, but it it it felt beautiful. minutes Yeah. They should give themselves a big round of applause because it really I know it felt beautiful. It certainly looked beautiful.

Uh very quickly, Victor Glover, while I have you on the microphone, uh we are broadcasting across the nation, but we’re we’re focused we’re based in Los Angeles and I thought since you were from Southern California, maybe you’d like to give a shout out to your friends and family here. Oh, well, of course. Uh my mom lives there, my grandparents, all the cousins, aunts and uncles, and uh to just everybody in California. Thank you for all of the support uh and and the love for all of these years.

So many of uh my career milestones happened in that special place. Um that will always be home no matter where the government sends me. You’re going with us. How has it been?Yeah.

How has it been on board now for your first night?I know you haven’t gotten much sleep. They keep waking you up. They kind of send out the songs they are doing. And I hear Christina that you are somehow sleeping upside down or face down.

Maybe you can explain that to us. Sure. Yes, it has been a great couple of days just learning how to live in Orion. Um, and I would love to give a quick shout out to our families before we keep keep going on with the questions just because we haven’t had a chance to say hi to them and it’s just so great to have had their support building up to the launch and we miss you guys already.

Living in Orion isn’t quite the same as being at home with our families. But yes, um, some of the exciting things are the burns that we do. They kick off with such an acceleration that most things that you see velcroed around that aren’t actually fastened down all fall down to the floor of Orion. But speaking of floors and ceilings, it actually is just all by convention only.