On Tuesday the Artemis II crew and astronauts aboard the International Space Station made a live voice link, trading views and stories from orbit.
Mission Control initiated a voice check, after which the Integrity spacecraft — carrying Canada’s Jeremy Hansen with Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch — connected with the station. The ISS crew said they had DME TV up and a view of the Artemis vehicle, and that the call “made our entire week.”
Artemis II reported being roughly 201,726 miles from Earth at one check and later about 25 nautical miles from the planet during the exchange. The Integrity crew described the surreal experience of watching Earth grow in their window as they approached trans-lunar injection, joking that Jeremy turned around and quipped they were “going to run right into it.”
The conversation covered science and operations as well as lighter topics. ISS astronauts asked how seeing the Earth from a new perspective, near the moon, compared with views from low Earth orbit. Christina Koch said she missed the Station’s ability to see specific places but that the scale and blackness around Earth from the Artemis vantage emphasized the planet’s fragility and common humanity.
They discussed how training and flight experience from the ISS carried over. Koch said the flight-operations principles and real-time, high-dynamic procedures practiced at the Station were invaluable for Artemis, and that the crew had also brought practical quirks of microgravity life — food, water handling and moving in tight quarters — to the capsule environment.
The teams traded anecdotes: a water training “process escape” and a joking “largest process escape” record, a dare during training that led to Reid growing a mustache, and a moment when Integrity’s crew laughed as Earth seemed to expand rapidly in their window prior to a translunar burn.
Food always gets airtime: Integrity listed menu items — mango salad, sweet-and-sour chicken, butternut squash and spicy green beans — and the ISS crew compared notes, confirming they had some of the same items and were mirroring meals for the call.
Koch cheered ISS crew members on, and Jessica Meir on the Station returned the goodwill, recalling running to the far end of the Station to claim they were the furthest away at one moment. Reid Wiseman closed with appreciation, calling the chance to speak from both vehicles “a true treat,” and Mission Control later resumed normal operational audio after the event.