HOUSTON (KTRK) — The Artemis II crew is still adjusting to life on Earth, not just with their bodies, but also dealing with the amount of attention the mission has given them.
On Thursday at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, answered questions about their mission.
ABC13’s Nick Natario asked if they’ve grasped the gravity of what they’ve accomplished.
“We did what we said we were going to do, and now we have to step out and face that reality,” Glover said. “That’s a great thing.”
“When my husband looked me in the eye on that video call and said, ‘No, really, you’ve made a difference,’ it brought tears to my eyes,” Koch said. “That’s all we ever wanted.”
While NASA said the mission was a success from blastoff through the lunar flyby and splashdown, astronauts said it wasn’t perfect.
The astronauts had to deal with a bathroom issue on the spacecraft. Wiseman said there were plumbing problems with the vent that moved substances.
“For the first two days of the mission, it was fun to watch that thing get dumped,” Wiseman recalled. “That is an interesting thing to see out the window. It’s just like a billion little tiny flecks of ice heading out into deep space.”
The crew was asked if they had had any moon dreams since they returned to Earth. Koch said she isn’t having dreams, but is still adjusting to life on Earth.
“Every time I’ve been waking up, or in the first few days, I thought I was floating,” Koch said. “I truly thought I was floating, and I had to convince myself I wasn’t.”
While the astronauts didn’t land on the moon, NASA said its goal is to have the Artemis IV crew land there in 2028. Wiseman said he believes that feat is a possibility.
“If you had given us the keys to the lander, we would’ve taken it down to the moon,” Wiseman explained. “It’s not the leap I thought it was. It’s going to be extremely technically challenging, but this team needs to show up every day knowing it is absolutely doable.”
Before Artemis IV, NASA plans to send an Artemis III crew to low Earth orbit to work with the lunar lander. NASA officials said they plan to announce the astronauts for those crews soon.
Copyright © 2026 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved.