'We are bonded forever': Artemis II astronauts speak on completing their historic moon mission

U.S. news'We are bonded forever': Artemis II astronauts speak on completing their historic moon mission"It’s a special thing to be a human, and it’s a special thing to be on planet Earth," Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman said.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Jeremy Hansen, and Victor Glover on in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.Bill Ingalls / NASAShareAdd NBC News to GoogleApril 11, 2026, 5:50 PM EDTBy Matt Lavietes and Marlene LenthangThe four Artemis II astronauts said Saturday that they're "bonded forever" in their first public remarks one day after completing NASA's first lunar mission in more than 50 years.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Commander Reid Wiseman, mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, and pilot Victor Glover took the stage at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to raucous applause."We are bonded forever, and no one down here is ever going to know what the four of us just went through, and it was the most special thing that will ever happen in my life," Wiseman said."Before you launch, it feels like it’s the greatest dream on Earth, and when you’re out there, you just want to get back to your families and your friends," Wiseman said. "It’s a special thing to be a human, and it’s a special thing to be on planet Earth."The four arrived safely back on Earth on Friday, splashing down into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego in their Orion capsule after their 10 day trip around the moon.With the completion of their mission, they became the first humans to see the entire far side of the moon, which permanently faces away from Earth, with their own eyes. "Even bigger than my challenge trying to describe what we went through, the gratitude of seeing what we saw, doing what we did, and being with who I was with — it's too big to just be in one body," Glover said. Koch spoke on th...