NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman said that although he is not a religious man, he “broke down in tears” after returning from the mission to the moon and felt such intense emotion that he asked to speak with a Navy chaplain.
During a press conference at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas the Artemis II crew discussed their experience in outer space.
They were asked whether they had an experience similar to that of Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, who was the sixth human to walk on the moon.
On his way back to Earth, MItchell claimed he had an “experience” that led him to spend the rest of his life studying the nature of human consciousness.
FAMOUS QUOTE FROM ASTRONAUT WHO WALKED ON THE MOON
Mitchell famously quoted this view of planet Earth when seen from the moon.
You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it.
From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty.
You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles to the moon and say: “Look at that”
Towards the end of his life, Captain Mitchell said:
So here we are, in the 21s century, trying to put two faces of reality — the existence face and the intelligence or conscious face — into the same understanding.
Body and mind, physicality and consciousness belong to the same side of reality.
ARTEMIS COMMANDER DESCRIBES EMOTIONAL IMPACT OF MOON MISSION
When Reid Wiseman was asked whether he experienced a “universal connectedness” upon returning to Earth or “a shift in consciousness,” he described the emotional impact of the experience.
“I’m not really a religious person, but there was just no other avenue for me to explain anything or to experience anything.”
“So I asked for the chaplain on the Navy ship to just come visit us for a minute.”
“And when that man walked in, I’d never met him before in my life, but I saw the cross on his collar and I broke down in tears.”
“WHAT WE WERE LOOKING AT WAS OTHERWORLDLY”
“It’s very hard to fully grasp what we just went through,” he added, noting that the crew has been undergoing medical testing and hasn’t yet had time to decompress.
“We have not had that reflection time. So I’m basing this on what we saw.”
“When the sun eclipsed behind the moon, I turned to pilot Victor Glover and I said: ‘I don’t think humanity has evolved to the point of being able to comprehend what we’re looking at right now because it was otherworldly.”
ASTRONAUTS ARE STILL UNPACKING WHAT THEY EXPERIENCED ON THE MOON MISSION
Captain Glover, a devout Christian, witnessed his commander’s reaction to the chaplain’s arrival.
“That was a really special moment. I was in the bed right across when the chaplain came in, and the only thing I would add is I am a religious person, but everything else is the same.”
“There is something in there, and as we start to process, I’ll have to tell you next week, but I haven’t had a chance to really unpack it all yet.”
CHRISTIAN PILOT’S REFLECTION ON WHAT HE SAW FROM BEYOND EARTH
Earlier while en route to the moon, the Artemis II pilot reflected on how the experience of leaving Earth has reinforced his faith.
“When I read the Bible and I look at all of the amazing things that were done for us who were created I see we’re in a spaceship really far from Earth, but you (humanity) are on a spaceship called Earth that was created to give us a place to live in the universe, in the cosmos.”
“You are special in all of this emptiness,” said Victor Glover.
“This is a whole bunch of nothing, this thing we call the universe. You have this oasis, this beautiful place that we get to exist together.”
“Whether you celebrate it or not, whether you believe in God or not … this is an opportunity for us to remember where we are, who we are and that we are the same thing and that we got to get through this together.”
COMMANDER WISEMAN’S TRIBUTE TO HIS LATE WIFE
Asked about the moment he learned one crater of the moon was to be named after his late wife, Reid Wiseman said, “I thought it was the most beautiful thing I’d heard in my entire life.”
“She was an amazing human being, and she’s the mother of my two daughters.”
“And what man on this planet deserves a gift like that — to have your crew be so thoughtful and to do something so caring and so deep and so meaningful.”
His wife Carroll died from cancer at the age of 46 in 2020.
“THEIR FIRST INSTINCT WAS TO REACH FOR THE DIVINE”
The National Catholic Register reports: “The Artemis II crew returns as living history, having traveled farther from Earth than any human being before them.”
“They saw the far side of the moon and witnessed a solar eclipse from the heavens — feats once thought impossible.”
“Yet, after touching the furthest reaches of human travel, their first instinct was to reach for the divine.”
“May the images and video from this mission lead us to do the same.”
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