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What if you had the opportunity to experience something no human being had ever done before? And, what if you could experience it as part of a four-person team?

That’s exactly what the crew of the Artemis II mission discussed, during NASA’s press conference on Thursday, April 16th.

Astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, of the Canadian Space Agency, had just returned from their historic flight, six days earlier.

The Artemis II mission lasted nine days, one hour and thirty-two minutes, according to NASA’s website.

During that time, the crew set some historic precedents.

A mission of firsts

After their textbook launch on April 1, 2026, they set a new record for furthest human spaceflight: more than 252,000 miles from Earth. Their crewed lunar flyby was NASA’s first in more than 50 years.

And they orbited the far side of the Moon–capturing perspectives no one had ever seen before.

The world cheered their safe return, as their Orion spacecraft, which they’d named “Integrity”, splashed down off the coast of San Diego on Friday, April 10th.

Artemis II is the latest chapter of an ongoing story.

This unprecedented lunar flyby is another step towards NASA’s future goals: lunar exploration, construction of a lunar base and, ultimately, the first crewed missions to Mars.

Here are some of the insights the astronauts shared from their experiences on this historic mission, their advice to youth who will be the “Artemis generation”, and NASA’s preparations for Artemis III and IV in the future.

On this edition of Over Coffee® we cover:

• Ways in which the astronauts functioned as a team;

• What daily life was like aboard the Orion spacecraft, which the astronauts named “Integrity”;

• Factors that helped the astronauts maintain their mental health during this unprecedented mission;

• What helped them stay “in Integrity”;

• Some of the technical issues they encountered during the mission, and the mindset that allowed them to deal with them effectively;

• What splashdown felt like, from inside Integrity;

• The work-around NASA and the astronauts developed for the heat-shield issues which the Artemis I test flight had encountered;

• How the astronauts are getting re-acclimated to life on earth;

• How NASA and the Artemis II crew are now laying groundwork for future, longer missions;

• The astronauts’ advice for crew members of future Artemis missions;

• And, what they would tell current students, who may become those crew members!

• The astronauts’ “takeaways” from their experience