Recently, the world watched in awe as the Artemis II spacecraft traveled around the Moon, with the four astronauts on board being the first to be so close to it in over 50 years.
In a world that has grown so divided, it felt like we were all able to come together for a moment and appreciate a scientific marvel that reminded us of our small role in the universe during the 10-day mission. The astronauts have practically become celebrities at this point, so people were thrilled when mission specialist Christina Koch shared what might be the first-ever space vlog.
The world got its first behind-the-scenes look at life inside a spacecraft.
People have been eating up all of the content to come from Artemis II, from the official photographs released by NASA to the recording of the astronauts requesting that a crater they saw on the Moon’s surface be named after Commander Reid Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll.
Technology is obviously very different from what it was half a century ago, so the footage captured by the Artemis II is a departure from the grainy videos of the first Moon landing. In fact, the astronauts were actually given permission to take their phones to space with them, in what NASA described as an effort to “capture special moments for their families and share inspiring images and video with the world.”
Koch took advantage of this and filmed videos in space, posting two of them on her TikTok account. In one, a loud banging repeatedly occurred while Koch showed the view from the spacecraft’s window, with stars moving by so quickly they looked more like snowflakes.
“That was awesome,” she can be heard saying in the background. In the caption, she explained the sound came from their reentry thrusters, which ensured they safely reentered Earth’s atmosphere. The noise was so loud she felt like “they were knocking on the walls right beside us.”
Life in space was possibly a bit more mundane than any of us would have expected.
The second video was clearly filmed earlier in the mission, before reentry was even on their minds, and seems to feature four brilliant astronauts doing one of the coolest things ever, casually hanging out.
“Just hanging out in Integrity at the end of a long day, listening to our Artemis II playlist,” Koch said. She and another astronaut were preparing dinner, while their two crewmates were entering data into tablets. The lack of gravity meant everyone was positioned at completely different angles that felt odd to wrap your head around when you’ve never experienced that.
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Other TikTokers expressed their mix of surprise and delight at being able to see such an intimate look inside a space mission. “I cannot grasp that we are watching videos recorded on a cell phone of people flying through space posted on TikTok,” one said. “Like, what?!”
Someone else commented, “It’s insane that right outside of that window is just NOTHING forever.” A third person declared, “You’re the coolest person on my timeline.”
The possibilities created by the Artemis II mission are astounding, but it also serves as an important reminder of what we already have.
Artemis II served as a bit of a test run for several different NASA systems. It followed the flight of Artemis I in 2022, which did not have a crew. Scientific American reported that the long-term goal of these missions is to “build an enduring human outpost on the Moon,” and to eventually try to make it to Mars.
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The idea of going farther than ever before in space travel is exciting, but probably not the entire explanation for what has been dubbed “Moon joy.” Perhaps Koch summed that up best in her own words to Mission Control at NASA.
“When we burned this burn towards the Moon, I said that ‘we do not leave Earth, but we choose it,’” she stated. “And that is true. We will explore. We will build … We will visit again … We will inspire. But ultimately, we will always choose Earth. We will always choose each other.”
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
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