‘Let’s Go!’ New Footage Shows Moment Artemis II Astronauts Were Welcomed Back to Earth

New footage released late on Monday night showed the thrilling moment the Artemis II astronauts opened their hatch after splash landing in the Pacific Ocean outside of San Diego last week.

“Yessss! Let’s go!” one member of the NASA and military team could be heard belting out as the Orion space capsule was opened up; the astronauts inside could be heard yelling with excitement too as the hatch was opened.

The footage then shows the retrieval team hopping inside the spacecraft and greeting the four Artemis II crew members — Commander Reid Wiseman, Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, and Pilot Victor Glover. Each of the astronauts received a celebratory fist bump and/or handshake from the team member filming their return to earth. There were a lot of big smiles.

“What’s up?! Welcome home, brother,” the camera man said after greeting Glover.

Wiseman posted the clip on his X account around 11:00 p.m. on Monday night. He thanked the members of the retrieval team in his caption, posting: “Jesse, Steve, Laddy, and Vlad….such an incredible feeling to welcome you aboard Integrity after a nearly 700,000 mile journey. Forever thankful for your service to our crew and the nation.”

The 10-day journey took the Artemis II on a historic journey to the dark side of the moon and back.

The four astronauts spoke for the first time publicly on April 11, one day after they returned.

“I have absolutely no idea what to say!” Wiseman said at the event at Houston’s Ellington Field. “Twenty-four hours ago, the Earth was that big out the window and we were doing Mach 39, and here we are back at Ellington at home.”

“No one down here is ever going to know what the four of us just went through, and it was the most special thing that will ever happen in my life,” he added. “This was not easy being 200,000-plus miles away from home. Like, before you launch, it feels like it’s the greatest dream on Earth. And when you’re out there, you just want to get back to your families and your friends. It’s a special thing to be a human, and it’s a special thing to be on planet Earth.”

Watch the Fox News report on their return above.

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