Artemis II crew takes questions from reporters postflight

[0:00] well as you know they made history as the first humans to travel the farthest [0:05] from the planet earth and now we're going to be hearing directly from them this hour nasa will [0:10] be holding a post-flight press conference with the artemis 2 crew in houston we'll be hearing [0:16] from astronauts reid weissman victor glover christina cook and jeremy hansen fresh off their [0:21] return to earth we're expecting them to answer questions too about the historic mission around [0:26] the moon and what comes next for artemis while we're waiting for that live event to begin any [0:32] minute by the way former astronaut susan kilrain joining me now so susan i'm curious you when you [0:38] know when you first returned back from space personalize us uh personalize it for us what [0:45] was going through your mind as you knew you were getting close then the minute you splashed down [0:50] and then those couple of days where everything's probably a little crazy right that's right kara [0:56] i mean we didn't splash down in the shuttle thankfully we landed on a runway but uh it was [1:03] an amazing feeling to be back here on earth and so we um you know we got out and i realized how dizzy [1:13] i really was as we tried to walk out to the front of the space shuttle and give a quick press conference [1:18] there um you felt very heavy from having been weightless uh for me for two weeks for them for 10 days [1:26] and then uh you fly back to houston and your loved ones welcome you as the artemis crew got to [1:33] experience uh people from uh nasa their family their friends pets and so it was it it was an amazing [1:45] occasion all right we're going to talk some more but commander reed weissman has started the presser [1:51] let's listen in this is for humans can be and not be a family uh so it was just an amazing adventure [1:58] and every single person on that crew lifted each other up the entire time um so i just can't thank [2:03] the three of you enough thank you um while we're giving thanks you're welcome uh while we're giving [2:08] thanks yeah as as astronauts we i feel like we're just always thanking the team we're always thanking the [2:12] team so i think today we're just going to start by thanking the world let's just thank the world and [2:17] let's break that down for for one minute and then i'll hand it back to courtney but this this nasa [2:21] organization and their international partners they put together this amazing vehicle the orion [2:26] spacecraft that we named integrity atop the space launch system uh riding to the moon on a european [2:31] service module they provided this this massive structure uh that was able to push four humans [2:36] around the moon and bring them safely back so thank you to every single person that had a hand [2:40] in building that machine because it was a magnificent machine um but then we would also [2:45] be remiss if we didn't thank the media if we didn't thank the content creators and if we didn't [2:50] thank the world for just tuning in for a second and getting hooked on this mission we were certainly [2:54] hooked on this mission but when we came home we were shocked at the uh the global outpouring of [2:59] support of pride of ownership of this mission and really i think at the beginning that's what the [3:04] four of us wanted we wanted to go out and try to do something that would bring the world [3:07] together to unite the world and then i'll just wrap that all up with uh the astronaut's creed [3:12] is always to launch as friends as land and land as friends and when you live together in a small group [3:18] for as long as you do on the space station or even 10 days it's a challenge but i am here to tell [3:25] the world we launched as friends and we came back as best friends thank you all right and with that [3:32] we will begin taking questions due to the limited time we have today and the high volume of requests [3:38] we ask that media limit themselves to one question please we'll start here in the room with will go [3:43] ahead hi will robinson smith with space flight now it's wonderful to see you all again in person this [3:49] time um question for reasons you brought up the the name of your spacecraft and announced it back in [3:56] september when we last saw you here in person integrity you mentioned was not only the name of [4:02] the spacecraft but the ethos that you wanted to embody throughout the course of the training the mission [4:07] and when you got back here on earth so i wonder having spent nine plus days physically in integrity [4:14] how you found yourself being in integrity you know emotionally and practically as it was to exercise [4:19] the spacecraft for the first time thank you well you addressed it to me so i'll take it um you know [4:26] we've talked a lot about integrity and for folks that have followed us uh there's a saying that we [4:30] learned from one of our national outdoor leadership school instructors you integrity is not a one or a zero [4:35] you don't either have it or not have it um you can be in integrity and you can be out of integrity and [4:39] i will tell you i'll be the first to admit that there were moments on this mission where i was [4:42] out of integrity because sometimes the view or the human experience would just pull me away from the [4:46] work and uh and it just it happens and it's a beautiful thing to get to witness what we got to [4:53] witness but at the end of the day you you got to do the mission too and so there were moments [4:57] where i was out of integrity there was moments where each of us uh would would fall out for a second [5:01] but the coolest part of that word i was reflecting on last night like we named that spacecraft integrity [5:06] and it just kind of coalesced this thread in the four of us and whenever someone would slip out it [5:12] was amazing to watch the other three pull them back in and it what a glorious thing anybody want to add [5:17] anything for integrity is just such a such the perfect name for this group and this spacecraft we're [5:22] going to take a few more questions here in the room and then go over to our phone bridge just [5:25] a reminder for those on the phone bridge to please press star one when you're ready to enter the queue [5:30] go ahead hi i'm nick notario with abc 13. i want to talk to you all about the magnitude of what you [5:35] all just did so to give you some idea abc on the splashdown coverage alone 10 million people watched [5:42] our network that day just splashdown that's not the launch the lunar flyby and i gotta tell you one of [5:48] those viewers was my daughter ellie who turned four during your mission and she was mesmerized by what [5:56] you all were doing she wasn't talking about her big bluey birthday party she wasn't talking about [6:01] the gifts that she got every night i came home from jsc she said daddy ellie go to space she was [6:07] infatuated when you hear stuff like that and the amount of people that were interested in what you've [6:14] done has the gravity yet hit you about this mission and you know how has it changed you as well [6:21] okay you know um first i just want to thank you for sharing that that is wonderful to hear about [6:27] your your daughter that's awesome and thank her for that you know creating that story we landed on [6:34] friday tomorrow will be one week and i just was trying to live in a little hole for one week been [6:40] off social media not on the news so no i don't know but you know my kids have made it pretty clear [6:47] uh my neighbors and you know it's hard to live in a bubble nowadays i'm trying very hard but um but [6:54] you know i think it's what i've come to realize is we did what we said we were going to do and now [6:59] we've got to step out and and and just face that reality and so that's a great thing but i'll figure it [7:06] out tomorrow courtney started this by saying the crew is ready i'm really not but but i will be next week [7:12] i do you mind if i add something please i just it's the way you were i mean i love your question [7:19] but you say what you guys did what the four of you did and we just don't not see it that way we should [7:24] be rewording that question to what we did that's what this was we just went up and did what we were [7:29] going to do all we saw was a camera um we didn't have that connection with you we lost that connection [7:36] with earth by and large and so we just leaned into what we had we leaned into each other and mission [7:41] control which is really all we had in our families a couple times but we did that because we had been [7:46] lifted up and supported to just go up there and be ourselves and just do our job and we went into it [7:50] thinking you know it's not going to be perfect but it's going to be good enough it seems like it was [7:54] good enough i'll add a little bit just my personal perspective when i got back as someone who doesn't [8:03] necessarily like attention i don't like my birthday the birthday song being sent to me any of that my [8:09] husband said that before i got back he had a conversation with my brothers and sisters and they were [8:13] like who's going to tell her because we didn't know and in fact what what we were told really [8:24] through talking with a couple times with our families was that there was an impact not necessarily the [8:30] number of viewers or anything like that but that there was a positive impact that it was superseding [8:36] any lines any identities that people had and when my husband looked me in the eye on that video [8:43] call and said no really you've made a difference it brought tears to my eyes and i said that's all [8:50] we ever wanted and i can tell you that the difference now is when we come before you now we've done this [8:58] together we took your hearts with us and your hearts lifted our hearts and now that we've done it [9:05] i think it's easier to accept that there's attention on the nasa teams on the fact that we did it [9:12] you know in the beginning three years ago we were being celebrated for something that we hadn't done [9:18] and having put in the work and having seen our team's successes i think we're ready to share in [9:25] that inspiration and to celebrate it okay we'll take two more here in the room and then head to our [9:32] phone bridge kristen go ahead hi kristen fisher with the endless void and welcome home it's been such a joy [9:41] watching how much this mission has gotten people so excited about space my question's a little bit [9:47] deep so bear with me when apollo 14 astronaut edgar mitchell was returning from the moon he had an [9:56] experience so profound that when he returned to earth he devoted the rest of his life to studying [10:01] the nature of human consciousness and it's a theme that all four of you touched on to varying degrees at [10:09] some point during the mission and so my question is now that you've been back on earth for just a few [10:14] days and had a little bit of time to sit with it do any of you feel as though you had an experience [10:21] similar to what mitchell described this sense of universal connectedness and did you experience [10:26] somehow a a shift in consciousness somehow thanks yes chris it's a it's a great question i i'll just [10:37] look the only thing i can do is just share one quick story when i got back on the on the ship [10:42] um i'm not a i'm not really a religious person but there was just no other avenue for me to [10:48] to explain anything or to experience anything so i asked for the chaplain on the navy ship to just come [10:53] visit us for a minute and when that man walked in i'd never met him before in my life but i saw the cross [10:57] on his on his collar and i just i broke down in tears like that it's very hard to fully grasp what we [11:05] just went through and in these short you just said it's been a week since we've been back but it's [11:09] been a week of medical testing physical testing doctors science objectives i would like we have [11:14] not had that decompression we have not had that reflection time so i'm basing this on what we saw [11:19] and when the when the sun eclipsed behind the moon i think all four of us i turned to victor and i said [11:25] i don't think humanity has evolved to the point of being able to comprehend what we're looking at [11:29] right now because it was otherworldly and was amazing um the only thing i would add is i that [11:35] beautiful thank first of all thank you for sharing that that was a really special moment i was in the [11:38] bed right across when the chaplain came in and um the only thing i would add is i am a religious person [11:45] but everything else is the same um it it was there is something in there and as we start to process i'll [11:53] have to tell you next week but i haven't had a chance to really unpack it all yet all right we'll take [12:00] one more here in the room and then head over to our phone bridge maybe not as deep but but connected [12:07] uh keith garvin with kprc2 here in houston uh thank you so much for taking us on your journey [12:12] and so so glad that you're home you know with the technology that we have today and what we can do [12:17] with videos and pictures and social media it can still be very hard for one to convey exactly what [12:24] they're seeing to to everyone else what is the most remarkable or one of the most remarkable [12:30] experiences that that you all had that just couldn't be fully properly conveyed through [12:35] pictures and video and that's for any of you i can start i was going to ask answer kristin's [12:42] question a little bit too and i think these tie together i've been trying to find words for it [12:46] i don't really have it yet but um we just saw so many amazing things and people ask what's the most [12:52] amazing one and it's yeah you can't pick one there's just so many amazing experiences we had but [12:57] overall where i keep coming back to is what kept grabbing my attention when the lighting was right [13:03] and we were looking out the window is that i kept seeing this like depth to i guess the galaxy you [13:09] know for what we were visually observing out there this depth to the galaxy that i just had never [13:15] experienced before and it's not that i could tell which stars were really closer and further because it [13:19] has to do with how bright they are but because of how bright they are and their differences they look like [13:23] you can tell where they are in 3d that was mind-blowing for me and then you see the same thing with the [13:29] moon and the earth you're viewing them from this new perspective but this perspective with like [13:34] three-dimensional depth and i mean i've heard christina talk about this a lot we're all kind of [13:39] struck by these things that make us feel small and that the sense i had was the sense of of fragility [13:46] and feeling small and infinitesimally small but yet this very powerful feeling as a human being [13:53] like as a group and that is what to me is what i would try to share i saw it in all these sites over [14:01] and over again i kept seeing that same thing and that same feeling small and powerless but yet powerful [14:07] together okay we'll head over to our phone bridge our next question is from nell greenfield with npr [14:15] hey uh welcome back everybody um tell me about your sleep have you been having any dreams of the [14:24] moon and if so what have the dreams been like this one i i've got a couple things i can say on that one [14:34] been sleeping great since we got back we are tired so i think our bodies were ready to accept any time [14:41] zone of sleep that we offered it and what i've noticed which is completely different from my first [14:47] flight and surprisingly so since my first flight was so long is every time i've been waking up or in [14:54] the first few days i thought i was floating i truly thought i was floating and i had to convince myself [15:01] i wasn't and even after 328 days it's based on my previous mission i never did the thing where you [15:08] you think something will float in front of you i've done that on this return for some reason i i put a [15:14] shirt in the air and it went it actually surprised me and so that's been the real thing which i've [15:23] welcomed because space sleep is the best sleep ever it's so peaceful it's so comfortable and to have [15:31] a little bit of that after our mission was over so quickly has been really special our next question [15:37] i'll just know a little funny thing because i think you'll get a kick out of it i sleep a lot better [15:40] now because i don't have reed underneath me kicking me oh come on we should talk about our first night [15:47] of sleep on the ship where we were about eight feet apart in the beds in the med bay and it felt way [15:54] too far that was not okay i heard christina say hey can we open up these curtains and pull all the beds [16:00] together because you guys are way too far away