During the mission’s final public event Thursday night, each crew member took time to send a message to their children.
“Ellie and Katie, I love you,” Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman said to his two daughters, adding that their support had been “incredible.”
“I don’t think they understood the true meaning of this mission when we took off, but they found out because of the tremendous public support, the support of their friends and family. The whole world united. We saw it, and we also saw it through their eyes, and it was a very proud moment for me as a father to see the joy on their faces and the way they talk through e-mails and during our private meetings.”
Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen told his three children that he learns more from them than they learn from him, while NASA astronaut Christina Koch thanked her nine nephews and nieces for letters and pictures of Earth and rockets that “really touched my mission and I feel like they’re here with me.”
NASA astronaut Victor Glover reached out to his four daughters as well as children around the world.
“Now that we are back from this dream mission, your mother and I look forward to supporting you in achieving and achieving your own dreams,” he said. “We’ve spent years training them, but now we’re in full transition, becoming their biggest fans and encouraging them in life. And we say the same to future citizens. I hope this mission gives you something of value that you can cherish, keep in your heart and mind, and keep forever. It’s not because we want you to see what we’ve tried to show you, but because we want you to use it and develop a vocabulary to explain the world to us.”
Wiseman, impressed by Glover’s words, exclaimed, “Wow! Why should I answer the questions before you?’
