GoKawiilThe astronauts aboard the Artemis II mission are called a crew, but they really regard themselves as a team, right down to how they move around the Orion spacecraft's cabin. They've been intently focused on the overall success of the Artemis program, as there's a lot at stake because it's the first crewed deep-space flight in more than 50 years. The astronauts are acutely aware of that and how what they accomplish will impact future moon missions.
"Part of our ethos as a crew and our values from the very beginning were that this is a relay race," mission specialist Christina Koch said during a virtual news conference with reporters Wednesday evening. "In fact, we have batons that we bought to symbolize, physically, that. We plan to hand them to the next crew. And every single thing we do is with them in mind."
Koch referenced tasks she and the Orion crew have performed so far during their mission, such as manually piloting the spacecraft and ensuring that procedures are as they should be.
Watch this: Getting Personal With the Crew of Artemis II | Tech Today 19:07
"We're always thinking from the perspective of what is the next crew going to think about this, how will this help them to succeed," stated Koch.
It also takes teamwork just to live in such a small space. Koch said that the Orion's cabin feels bigger in microgravity than what she expected, even though the astronauts are constantly bumping into each other "100% of the time." Moving around the cabin, even to perform simple tasks, requires them to call out their movements to one another to avoid colliding with crewmates.
"Everything we do in here is a four-person activity, but it's also really fun," joked Koch.
That insight was among the personal details the Artemis crew shared from space on Wednesday evening -- the eighth day of their mission -- as they prepare for their return to Earth on Friday after a historic 10-day journey around the moon. The first crewed deep-space flight since 1972 saw the Orion Integrity spacecraft carry the crew 252,756 miles from Earth -- the farthest distance humans have ever traveled from our planet.
Watch this: Watch NASA's Artemis II Launch to the Moon 12:49
During the mission, the astronauts also shared an emotional moment with viewers back on Earth when they proposed naming one of the craters on the moon "Carroll," in memory of Commander Reid Wiseman's late wife, a nurse who died of cancer in 2020 at the age of 46. Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen made the proposal to Mission Control to name the crater on Orion's lunar flyby.
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