Artemis crew tells kids, moon flight was "the best roller coaster ride"

CBS Mornings Artemis crew tells kids at town hall, moon flight was "the best roller coaster ride you've ever been on" .chip { background-image: url('/fly/bundles/cbsnewscore/images/chip-bgd/chip-bgd-cbs-mornings.jpg'); } By Sarah Lynch Baldwin Sarah Lynch Baldwin Deputy Managing Editor Sarah Lynch Baldwin is a deputy managing editor of CBSNews.com. She helps lead national and breaking news coverage and shapes editorial workflows. Read Full Bio Sarah Lynch Baldwin May 1, 2026 / 8:08 AM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Artemis astronaut Jeremy Hansen described the crew's recent return to Earth as "the best roller coaster ride you've ever been on.""For the landing, it's like all the sights, all the feels," Hansen said Friday at a "CBS Mornings" town hall, "Artemis II: A Celebration of Heroes.""The first thing you see is like plasma, the colors starting to show up. This fireball building outside the windows," he said. "It was red, and it was coming down. And then it was like blue and green. It was like somebody was welding, like flashing."Speaking to an audience of students — the next generation of space explorers — he described getting "thrashed around" and being pushed to the seat with G-forces. "It's just all really exhilarating," he said, adding that he and mission specialist Christina Koch fist-bumped each other during the end of their journey."It was phenomenal. I was completely overcome with just elation. I was overjoyed," Koch said, describing her feelings at splashdown. Artemis II astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen speak about their moon mission at a CBS News town hall. CBS News Hansen and Koch, along with commander Reid Wiseman and pilot Victor Glover, returned from their trailblazing trip around the moon on April 10, when their Orion capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego — an epic ending to their historic mission. Koch described what it was like getting used to g...