Artemis II Astronaut Christina Koch Shares an Inspiring Message for Earth After Her Historic Flight

Koch reflected on the nearly 10 days the Artemis II crew spent in space while attending an event in Houston, Texas

NEED TO KNOW

• Christina Koch made a record-breaking journey to the moon alongside pilot Victor Glover, commander Reid Wiseman from NASA and Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen
• She shared her first public remarks following the Artemis II crew’s nearly 10 days in space at an event in Houston, Texas, on April 11
• “A crew is a group that is in it all the time, no matter what,” Koch said, reflecting on how her definition of the word “crew” has now changed

Christina Koch is sharing her first public remarks following the Artemis II mission. 

Hours after she splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego alongside three other astronauts — pilot Victor Glover, commander Reid Wiseman from NASA and Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen — the mission specialist, 47, reflected on the “human moments” throughout their record-breaking trip to the moon. 

During an event in Houston, Texas, on Saturday, April 11, Koch recalled that her journey began with her mission manager, Sean Duval, whispering, “Christina, we’re go for launch. Get up,” per a video shared by WRAL. 

"And it ended last night, when my nurse on the ship put me to bed and said, 'Ma’am, can I get a hug?' " Koch continued. "A lot has happened since then or between those two moments, but the start and the end were human moments here on Earth."

While focusing on the “human moments” surrounding the first manned moon mission in more than five decades, which has since set a record for the furthest distance humans have ever traveled from Earth, Koch came to realize that her idea of what the term “crew” meant had been “completely without value” before their journey.

“A crew is a group that is in it all the time, no matter what, that is stroking together every minute with the same purpose, that is willing to sacrifice silently for each other, that gives grace, that holds accountable," the astronaut said. ​​

“A crew has the same cares and the same needs, and a crew is inescapably, beautifully, dutifully linked,” she continued, looking towards her crewmates. “When we saw tiny Earth, people asked our crew what impressions we had. And honestly, what struck me wasn’t necessarily just Earth, it was all the blackness around it.”

The complete darkness surrounding our planet reminded Koch that we are all living on a “lifeboat hanging undisturbingly in the universe.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“I know I haven’t learned everything that this journey has yet to teach me, but there’s one new thing I know,” she concluded. “And that is, planet Earth, you are a crew.”

Before their return to Earth, the Artemis II crew shared another emotional moment when they reached a maximum distance of 252,756 miles from Earth. They decided to name one of two newly discovered moon craters after Commander Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll, who died of cancer in 2020.

“A number of years ago, we started this journey in our close-knit astronaut family, and we lost a loved one. And there's a feature in a really neat place on the moon,” Hansen said to mission control, per Space. “At certain times … we will be able to see this from Earth.”

“And so we lost a loved one, her name is Carroll, the spouse of Reid, the mother of Katie and Ellie," Hansen continued as the crew began to tear up. "And it's a bright spot on the moon — and we would like to call it Carroll."