Reid Wiseman says his trip around the Moon changed more than his view from space. After Artemis II returned to Earth on April 11, the mission commander said the historic flight altered his perspective on faith and God, a shift that followed one of the most emotionally charged moments of the voyage.
“I’m not a religious person,” Wiseman said at a press conference after the capsule came back down, but the former Navy officer said he asked for the chaplain on the ship to come see him for a minute. When the chaplain walked in and he saw the cross on the cleric’s collar, Wiseman said he broke down in tears. The reaction came after a 10-day mission that ended with a splashdown off San Diego and a return for the crew to the USS John P. Murtha around 8:30 p.m. CT.
Wiseman, who commanded Artemis II, flew with Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen on the first human flight to the Moon in more than 50 years. The four astronauts traveled more than 250,000 miles from Earth, farther than any humans have ever gone, in a mission NASA said reestablished the ability to operate in deep space. On the way, the crew also asked permission to name a small fresh crater after Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll, who died of cancer in 2020, and he later called that moment the pinnacle of the mission for him.
That personal loss shadowed the flight even as the spacecraft delivered a landmark for the agency. Wiseman said after the mission that “This was an unbelievable adventure. And it was made possible by this crew and the support of each other throughout the whole thing,” and added, “We are bonded forever.” He also said the view was beyond what people can fully grasp, describing it as “otherworldly” and “amazing.”
The return has put NASA back in a place it had not occupied for generations. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said after the landing, “We are back in the business of sending astronauts to the Moon,” a line that captures how the flight moved from a singular mission to the start of a new era. For Wiseman, though, the enduring image may not be the Moon itself, but the moment a chaplain entered the room and left him in tears.