Artemis II Crew Reflect on Mission, Look Ahead to Artemis III

All four astronauts were relatively unaware of the impact their mission had on the world until they got home.

NASA’s Artemis II crew, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander (R); Victor Glover, pilot (2nd R); Christina Koch, mission specialist (2nd L); and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen (L), share brief remarks with friends, family, and colleagues at Ellington Airport near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on April 11, 2026. NASA/Helen Arase Vargas

The crew of NASA’s Artemis II told members of the press on April 16 that the Orion spacecraft they had test-flown around the moon and back was already in a state fit to carry the crew of Artemis III.

“There are always things we need to improve. Always,” said Reid Wiseman, Artemis II’s commander. “There are ways we need to do better living in space. There are ways this machine needs to be improved. But, in my own personal opinion, they could put the Artemis III Orion [spacecraft] on the Space Launch System tomorrow and launch it, and the crew would be in great shape.”