HOUSTON – The astronauts of the Artemis II mission, still basking in the glory of their extraordinary journey to the moon, were greeted with enthusiastic cheers on Saturday by a crowd that celebrated NASA’s historic return to deep space exploration.

The quartet touched down at Ellington Field, adjacent to NASA’s Johnson Space Center and Mission Control, arriving from San Diego where they had successfully completed their mission with a splashdown just off the coast the previous evening.

Following a brief but heartfelt reunion with their families, Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen took to the stage in a hangar, surrounded by space center personnel and special guests. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who was among the first to welcome them back on the recovery vessel on Friday, introduced the team.

“Ladies and gentlemen, your Artemis II crew,” Isaacman announced, prompting a standing ovation from the audience.

Among the attendees were flight directors, the launch director, managers of the Orion capsule and exploration systems, senior military officials, members of Congress, the entire roster of NASA astronauts in their iconic blue suits, and even some retired spacefarers.

The timing of their return was particularly poignant, coinciding with the 56th anniversary of the Apollo 13 launch, a mission famously saved by the phrase “Houston, we’ve had a problem,” transforming potential disaster into a testament to human ingenuity and perseverance.

“This was not easy.” an emotional 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. It’s a special thing to be a human, and it’s a special thing to be on planet Earth.”

Added Glover: “I have not processed what we just did and I’m afraid to start even trying.”

Hansen said the four of them embodied love “and extracting joy out of that” as the four joined together to stand in a row, embracing one another. “When you look up here, you’re not looking at us. We are a mirror reflecting you. And if you like what you see, then just look a little deeper. This is you.”

During Artemis II’s nearly 10-day mission, the astronauts voyaged deeper into space than the moon explorers of decades past and captured views of the lunar far side never witnessed before by human eyes. A total solar eclipse added to the cosmic wonder.

On their record-breaking flyby, the astronauts reached a maximum 252,756 miles (406,771 kilometers) from Earth before hanging a U-turn behind the moon, eclipsing Apollo’s 13 distance record.

The mission also revealed a new side of our planet with an Earthset photo, showing our Blue Marble setting behind the gray, pockmarked moon. The image echoed the famous Earthrise shot from 1968 taken by the world’s first lunar visitors, Apollo 8.

“Honestly, what struck me wasn’t necessarily just Earth, it was all the blackness around it. Earth was just this lifeboat hanging undisturbedly in the universe,” Koch said. “Planet Earth you are a crew.”

Despite the accomplishments, Artemis II astronauts had to contend with a more mundane problem — a malfunctioning space toilet. NASA promised a design fix before longer moon-landing missions.

Wiseman, Glover, Koch and Hansen were the first humans to fly to the moon since Apollo 17 closed out NASA’s first exploration era in 1972. Twenty-four astronauts flew to the moon during Apollo, including 12 moonwalkers.

Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell — who also flew on Apollo 8 — cheered the Artemis II crew on in a wake-up message recorded before he died last summer.

It was crucial for NASA that Artemis II go well. The space agency is already preparing for next year’s Artemis III, which will see a new crew practice docking its capsule with a lunar lander in orbit around Earth. That will set the stage for the all-important Artemis IV moon landing in 2028, when two astronauts attempt a touchdown near the lunar south pole.

“The long wait is over. After a brief 53-year intermission, the show goes on,” Isaacman said.

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