Artemis II astronauts describe joy of returning to Earth after NASA moon mission

Although it has been nearly a week since the four Artemis II astronauts completed their NASA mission around the moon, the crew said they have not yet fully processed the journey.

Although it has been nearly a week since the four Artemis II astronauts completed their mission around the moon, the crew said Thursday that they have not yet fully come down to Earth mentally or been able to reflect on the big moments of their journey.

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“I haven’t spent a lot of time processing all of this,” NASA astronaut Victor Glover told NBC News in response to a question about the final moments of the flight, when the Orion capsule streaked through Earth’s atmosphere at more than 24,000 miles per hour.

“I will say it was just a very intense moment, because we had never seen or felt this before. Everything was important, every noise, every mechanism,” Glover said.