After the flight to the Moon, the commander of Artemis II asked to speak to the chaplain and burst into tears
Reed Wiseman spoke about this on 16 April at a NASA press conference following the return of the Artemis II crew to Earth.
During the press conference, a journalist asked the crew whether they had experienced anything akin to the “shift in consciousness” that Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell had spoken of in the past. In response, Weizman recalled a moment after splashdown: he said that on board the spacecraft he had asked for the chaplain to be called, and when the chaplain entered and the astronaut saw the cross on his collar, he could not hold back his tears.
Weizman explained that he had not yet had proper time to reflect on what he had seen, as the first week after his return was filled with medical checks and post-flight procedures. But he specifically recalled the moment when the Sun disappeared behind the Moon, and said that what the crew had seen seemed to him “otherworldly” and something that humanity has not yet fully learnt to comprehend.
Mission pilot Victor Glover, who stood next to Weisman at the press conference, added that he is a religious man but otherwise shares his feelings. He also acknowledged that the crew is only just beginning to process what they have experienced.
The Artemis II mission launched on 1 April 2026 and concluded with a splashdown on 10 April off the coast of San Diego. According to NASA, the crew comprising Reid Weisman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen spent nearly 10 days in flight, flew around the Moon and set a new record for the farthest human flight from Earth – at its peak, the distance reached 252,756 miles.
NASA describes Artemis II as the first crewed lunar flyby mission in over 50 years. The mission’s objective was to test the Orion spacecraft in deep space ahead of future Artemis programme missions, which aim to return humans to the Moon’s surface.
Upon their return, the astronauts spoke at length not only about the technical aspects of the flight, but also about the emotional experience. At the same press conference, crew members described the feeling of Earth’s fragility, the three-dimensional ‘depth’ of space, and a strong sense of humanity’s shared humanity. It was in this context that Weisman’s story about the chaplain emerged, becoming one of the most memorable moments of the press briefing.
As reported by ThePublic, NASA has released new footage from the Artemis II mission, during which the crew carried out the first manned flyby of the Moon in over half a century. The astronauts photographed the far side of the Moon, captured a solar eclipse from space and reached a record distance from Earth for humankind — 406,773 km.
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