Heartwarming video shows Artemis II astronaut Christina Koch reuniting with her dog

U.S. newsHeartwarming video shows Artemis II astronaut Christina Koch reuniting with her dogIn an Instagram post, Koch is seen embracing her ecstatic dog Sadie for the first time since returning to Earth from her mission around the moon.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00NASA astronaut Christina Koch reunites with her dog, Sadie.@astro_christina via InstagramShareAdd NBC News to GoogleApril 13, 2026, 5:05 PM EDTBy Francie EbertBeing separated from your dog can be ruff, especially if that separation includes being launched into space, but that makes the reunion all the more pawsome. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.In an Instagram post shared on Sunday, NASA astronaut Christina Koch, one of the four Artemis II crew members, is seen entering her home after returning from her space mission — and her dog, Sadie, is about to blast off from sheer excitement.Sadie is seen jumping at the door after Koch becomes visible through the window. Her tail frantically wags and she barks with joy as Koch enters. The dog, experiencing what many call “the zoomies,” runs back and forth across the room.“I’m still pretty sure I was the happier side of this reunion,” Koch wrote. “Sadie taught me everything I needed to know about being an emotional support animal. Didn’t expect that would come in handy.”Koch, in the same post, shared another video showing her and Sadie running and jumping together on the beach and through the ocean waves.Koch and her fellow Artemis II crew members — NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen — traveled a total of 694,481 miles, making their lunar flyby the farthest humans have ever traveled from Earth. The previous distance record was set by the Apollo 13 mission in 1970. After 10 days in space, the Artemis II crew safely returned to Earth on Friday, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego. The Arte...