Artemis II astronauts speak out from space

[0:00] now to Artemis two and it's moon bound astronauts and lift off since his [0:06] picture-perfect launch yesterday the crew waking up today to John legends [0:11] green light absorbing their breathtaking view of Earth tonight the four [0:26] astronauts completing what's called a translunar injection burn we have the [0:30] start of the translunar injection burn firing up a final engine that will push [0:34] them out of the Earth's orbit and blast them to the moon for the first time [0:38] since 1972 history unfolding along with a history-making crew and now an [0:49] interview all the way from space with the astronauts themselves here's ABC's [0:54] Gio Benitez it's just incredible you're on the way to the moon right now what is [1:00] it that you're feeling well first and foremost we all wanted to give a shout [1:03] out to our families first because we are pretty far from Earth and we have not [1:06] gotten to say hi to them yet but [1:09] there was a moment about an hour ago where Mission Control Houston [1:14] reoriented our spacecraft as the Sun was setting behind the earth and I don't [1:18] know what we all expected to see at that moment but you can see the entire globe [1:22] from pole to pole you can see Africa Europe and as if you looked really close [1:28] you could see the northern lights it was the most spectacular moment and it [1:32] paused all four of us in our tracks what do you want to tell Americans here at [1:36] home who are watching this right now first and foremost I would [1:39] just like to say thank you your support and trust in us is enabled this and so [1:44] many people that have worked for so long to make this possible but also we're [1:48] just getting started we have a lot of mission left ahead of us and so I really [1:52] want to tell them stay tuned and keep keep tabs on what's going on Jeremy I [1:56] know this is your first time in space and you're surrounded by all of these [2:01] space vets what's it been like for you that this is your first mission there [2:05] there has been a tremendous amount of disbelief for me [2:09] just so extraordinary I just kept saying to them yesterday like I really like it [2:14] up here I wish I could have got here sooner it's just such a tremendous place [2:20] to be the views are extraordinary it's really fun to be floating around and it [2:26] just makes me feel like a little kid I heard that there was a little bit of an [2:30] issue with the toilet which one of you was the plumber I'll take that one I'm [2:34] the space plumber I'm proud to call myself the space plumber I like to say [2:39] it is probably the most important piece of equipment on board so we were all [2:43] breathing a sigh of relief when it turned out to be just fine I see that [2:47] you're very cozy in there it's tight quarters but it was also a little chilly [2:51] I heard it is quite cold and yeah we're wishing we had the the the lower [2:56] temperature sleeping bags with us Houston's been working with us to change [3:00] fan speeds and and temperature set points and we've actually been able to [3:03] warm it up a lot better in the last half a day or so how is it that you take a [3:09] nap in there what does sleeping even look like we've been off the planet for [3:14] what about 30 hours now and we've had two very short naps we actually just [3:17] gathered for our first meal together in space that is how busy we have been the [3:21] last day and a half it has been really an amazing beginning flight plan but [3:27] sleeping here is it's actually sort of comical Christina has been sleeping [3:31] heads down in the middle of the vehicle kind of like a bat suspended from our [3:35] docking tunnel Victor's been up where Jeremy is right now he's got a nice [3:39] couch in there and then Jeremy has been stretched out on seat one and I've been [3:44] sleeping under under the displays just in case anything goes wrong it's it's [3:48] more comfortable than you would think uh and it's it's nice it's nice to sleep [3:52] in weightlessness again do you feel the weight of history knowing that you're [3:56] going to be traveling farther than any other human you know it's uh it's an [4:01] remarkable thing it's uh it it you would think it would be weighty but uh it's we [4:05] just feel like we're lifted up by the team that supports us and you just sort [4:09] of dispute the plan a lot of people telling us uh how to work this and manage this vehicle and a [4:16] lot of great training and you just kind of go step by step which I think is pretty remarkable what [4:21] this team can do and it really highlights their excellence once I think I just want to add you [4:26] know we just got done our translunar injection burn and it was pretty tense moments there uh it [4:31] was pretty tense moments there for for a second and when we got done that burn we just kind of [4:36] looked at each other as a crew we have been to the moon before in 1969 [4:40] 1968 through 1972. it's been a long time since we've been back and I got to tell you there is [4:45] nothing normal about this sending four humans 250 000 miles away is a herculean effort and we are [4:51] now just realizing the gravity of that yeah nothing normal about this what are you most [4:56] excited about once you get to the moon having just experienced incredible views of planet [5:01] Earth and seeing the entire planet out the window in one pain knowing that we're about to have some [5:09] similar views of the moon [5:11] in that same way is definitely getting me more excited for it as you all know there is so much [5:17] division at home right now what is it that you're feeling and what message do you want to send to the [5:22] American people about what you're saying out that window the first thing I would say is uh trust us [5:26] you look amazing you look beautiful and from up here you also look like one thing you know [5:32] Homo sapiens is all of us no matter where you're from or or uh you know what you look like we're [5:41] two things that we life is very vaccinations just the fact that we have magic if you want there's [5:47] will not be a little man fuer for you you'll be a little [5:47] little but that meant a lot to me what I think about being around and just being in in astronaut [5:52] you know serving our countries at this time is that we get to to give ourselves a mission that [5:58] 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 [6:04] amazing things that humans do moonshots for a reason because this brought us together and showed [6:09] us what we can do and we put not just putting our difference ase aside when we bring our differences [6:10] together and use all the strengths to accomplish something great and so this mission will give us one of those things over the 4,000 and who gave us a miracle in were you able to accomplish this mission Jr. We need to see what we have to do because I got an astronaut [6:10] will give us one of those that we all can remember [6:13] and hold onto for the rest of our days. [6:15] And I hope people will tune in and give us a chance. [6:20] Integrity, what an honor to speak with you. [6:22] Thank you so much.