ABC News interviews Artemis II astronauts en route to moon

[0:00] ABC News, this is Mission Control Houston. Please call Integrity for a voice check. [0:05] Integrity, this is Gio Benitez at ABC News. How do you hear me? [0:14] Outstanding. We have you loud and clear. How about us? [0:18] I hear you loud and clear, and I truly cannot believe it. You are quite literally on the way [0:23] to the moon right now and still speaking with us. Tell me, how do you feel? What's going through [0:28] your mind? I mean, this must be so incredible because have you allowed the weight of the [0:33] moment to really fit in here? Have you allowed that to happen? [0:42] Well, first and foremost, we all wanted to give a shout out to our families first because we are [0:48] pretty far from Earth and we have not gotten to say hi to them yet. But there was a moment [0:53] about an hour ago where Mission Control Houston reoriented our spacecraft as the sun was setting [0:59] behind the Earth. And I don't know what we all expected to see at that moment, but you could [1:03] see the entire globe from pole to pole. You could see Africa, Europe, [1:09] and if you looked really close, you could see the northern lights. It was the most spectacular [1:14] moment and it paused all four of us in our tracks. What has been most surprising to you about this so [1:20] far? Well, I think probably one of the things that surprised all of us is when those solid [1:32] rocket boosters actually lit and we left the pad. It was just a moment of disbelief. And yeah, [1:38] the fact that we launched, it just totally takes you by surprise, even though you're expecting it, [1:44] at least for me anyway. And I just had a huge, [1:47] huge smile across my face. Did it feel different? Because I can imagine that's such a powerful [1:53] rocket that must have felt different for you. One of the biggest surprises was how smooth [2:05] riding those solids was. We all expected a really just dynamic ride, a lot of motion. We were [2:11] prepared to potentially not being able to see telemetry, maybe even not being able to touch [2:17] switches. And it was very smooth. It was a definite difference when they separated and we [2:23] were just on the main engine. [2:25] And I think that's one of the reasons why we're so excited about this mission. It's not just the [2:28] speed of the engines, but just a steady rumble and a great ride. [2:32] 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? [3:00] I think it's a great opportunity for NASA to be able to do this. We've had so many people that have worked for so long to make this possible. But also, we're just getting started. We've worked really hard. Even though we were a little surprised to actually launch yesterday, we have a lot of mission left ahead of us. And so I really want to tell them, stay tuned and keep tabs on what's going on. NASA is doing a great job of communicating all the things to come. [3:20] 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? [3:40] There has been a tremendous amount of disbelief for me. It's just so extraordinary. I just kept saying to them yesterday, like, I really like it up there. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. [3:57] I wish I could have gotten here sooner. It's just such a tremendous place to be. The views are extraordinary. It's really fun to be floating around, and it just makes me feel like a little kid. [4:11] I heard that there was a little bit of an issue with the toilet. Which one of you was the plumber? [4:17] I'll take that one. I'm the space plumber. I'm proud to call myself the space plumber. I like to say that it is probably the most important piece of equipment on board. [4:32] So, we'll see. [4:33] 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. [4:42] But we did originally think that there could have been potentially something fouling up the motor. And luckily, we are all systems go. [4:50] Oh, 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. But it was also a little chilly, I heard. [5:01] It is quite cold. [5:11] We're wishing we had the lower temperature sleeping bags with us. But right before this PAO event started, I pulled my knit cap off, and I'm ready to put it back on. [5:21] But Houston's been working with us to change fan speeds and temperature set points, and we've actually been able to warm it up a lot better in the last half a day or so. [5:31] Our last nap before TLI, we got a lot more comfortable. [5:35] Well, that's a really interesting question. How is it that you take a nap in there? What is sleeping? [5:40] What does sleeping even look like? [5:42] Well, let's see. We've been off the planet for, what, about 30 hours now, and we've had two very short naps. We actually just gathered for our first meal together in space. [6:00] That is how busy we have been the last day and a half. It has been really an amazing beginning flight plan. [6:06] But sleeping here is actually sort of comical. Christina has been sleeping heads down in the middle of the vehicle, kind of like a bat suspended from our docking tunnel. Victor's been up where Jeremy is right now. [6:18] He's got a nice little nook wedged in there. And then Jeremy has been stretched out on seat one, and I've been sleeping under the displays just in case anything goes wrong. [6:27] It's more comfortable than you would think, and it's nice to sleep in weightlessness again. [6:32] 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 is getting reacclimated. [6:40] It's been a few years since I've been up here. [6:42] I've heard it's the best sleep up in space. [6:44] Do you feel the weight of history knowing that you've been up here? [6:46] No. [6:47] No. [6:48] You're going to be traveling farther than any other human? [7:04] You know, it's a remarkable thing. [7:07] You would think it would be weighty, but we just feel like we're lifted up by the team that supports us, and you just sort of execute the plan. [7:15] A lot of people telling us how to work this and manage this vehicle, and a lot of great training. [7:22] 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. [7:30] I just want to add, you know, we just got done our translunar injection burn, and it was pretty tense moments there. [7:35] It was pretty tense moments there for a second. [7:38] And when we got done that burn, we just kind of looked at each other as a crew. [7:43] We had been to the moon before in 1969, 1968 through 1972. [7:47] It's been a long time since we've been back. [7:49] And I got to tell you, there is nothing normal about this. [7:52] Sending four humans 250,000 miles away is a Herculean effort, and we are now just realizing the gravity of that. [7:59] Yeah. [8:00] So, I'm going to ask you about this. [8:02] What are you most excited about once you get to the moon? [8:13] Having just experienced incredible views of planet Earth and seeing the entire planet out the window in one pane, [8:23] 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. [8:31] 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, [8:38] both lit up bright as day. [8:40] And also the moon glow on it at night with the beautiful beam of the sunset. [8:46] And knowing that we're going to get similar views of the moon, I'm really excited for that. [8:51] And then, of course, heading home. [8:53] Right now, we're in our cruise phase outbound, but we'll be turning our sights back on our home planet shortly. [8:59] Shorter, probably. [9:00] It's going to fly by, but we're just excited for both of those milestones. [9:04] As you all know, there is so much division at home right now. [9:08] What is it that you're feeling? [9:09] And what message do you want to send to the American people about what you're seeing out that window? [9:21] Well, the first thing I would say is trust us. [9:23] You look amazing. [9:24] You look beautiful. [9:25] And from up here, you also look like one thing. [9:28] Homo sapiens is all of us, no matter where you're from or what you look like. [9:34] We're all one people. [9:35] And so this mission, one of the things that's amazing about being around and just being an astronaut, serving our countries at this time, [9:43] is that we get to give ourselves a mission that we believe in. [9:46] We give ourselves a mission that we can hold onto to say, hey, look at what we did for the rest of our lives. [9:52] 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 – [10:00] not just putting our differences aside, when we bring our differences together and use all the strengths to accomplish something great. [10:06] And so this mission will give us one of those that we all can remember and hold onto for the rest of our days. [10:12] And I hope people will tune in and give us a chance. [10:17] Thank you, Degrady. [10:18] What an honor to speak with you. [10:19] Thank you so much.