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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Artemis Side Hatch Opened, Awaiting Crew Extraction; Artemis Crew Extracted From Orion Spacecraft; Artemis Crew Arriving On Recovery Ship After Splashdown. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired April 10, 2026 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
Voice of WILLIAM SHATNER, ACTOR, TRAVELED TO SPACE IN 2021: And this is one small step, if you will, in time to solve the mystery of what is this -- what is -- how does quantum and Newtonian physics, how do they stay together? What is the unifying theory? Because we don't know yet how it unifies, but logic tells us it does unify.
SHATNER: These are the beginning attempts, the way Magellan, and Shackleton, and all those explorers who went into the desert, went into nothing, they didn't know what was there and what would befall them, and some of them died on their way. Magellan died.
Voice of SHATNER: It's the adventure of mankind, of which this journey is the beginning of another journey, which is, leading to Mars.
Voice of ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, ANDERSON COOPER 360: Yes.
Voice of SHATNER: I think we should send robots, in the beginning, to Mars, to see what's there and how it works. But you'll find people, these astronauts, who'll want to go.
Voice of COOPER: Yes.
Voice of SHATNER: And we've seen by their observation on the Moon, on the dark side of the Moon, that the human eyes are so much subtler than the instruments we have.
Voice of COOPER: Yes.
Voice of SHATNER: That there's a value for humans to be in that vehicle.
Voice of COOPER: Yes, to hear the astronauts' descriptions of the images that they are seeing with their naked eyes, even colors that don't get picked up on by camera.
William Shatner, it is always a pleasure to talk to you. I appreciate it for the Intergalactic Wisdom.
Voice of SHATNER: Pleasure is mine.
Voice of COOPER: Thank you, as always.
COOPER: It is just past 09:00 p.m., here in New York, 6 o'clock off the coast of San Diego. Voice of COOPER: That is Integrity with the four Artemis II astronauts inside. They're waiting to be taken by helicopter to a recovery ship, from a spacecraft which is now acting as a small boat. It's a vessel with a lot of mileage on it now, certainly nearly 700,000 miles. A textbook splashdown to its name, a bit less than an hour ago.
Back here with Pete Muntean.
Former astronauts Jeanette Epps, Mike Massimino as well.
Jeanette, just kind of walk us through a little bit, what that extraction moment is like on the water. You've been in a water landing.
JEANETTE EPPS, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Well with the Dragon, what they do is they have a crane actually hoist you up onto the boat, and then they open the hatch.
COOPER: Wow.
EPPS: And they put you on like a platform and pull you out of the capsule.
Voice of COOPER: Huh?
Voice of EPPS: So, they wait until we actually get on board the ship to open the hatch.
Voice of COOPER: Interesting.
Voice of EPPS: So, we're waiting. And, yes, it is provocative. It can be.
Voice of COOPER: Provocative?
(LAUGHTER)
Voice of EPPS: Yes, because you will feel -- you do feel wobbly.
Voice of COOPER: Yes.
Voice of EPPS: But it is--
Voice of COOPER: What did it provoke in you?
Voice of EPPS: Well, you feel, like I said, everything feels incredibly heavy. Getting back accustomed to gravity is interesting. Your inner ear is going crazy. But it was bittersweet, like Garrett said earlier, but it was a -- it was a relief. Everything went according to plan. Everything went according to our training.
Voice of COOPER: Yes.
Voice of EPPS: It was -- it was amazing to be back after so many days in space, so.
Voice of COOPER: Yes.
Voice of EPPS: Yes.
Voice of COOPER: We're also joined by Neil deGrasse Tyson, who I'm very thrilled to be sitting next to again.
How you doing?
Voice of NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON, ASTROPHYSICIST, AUTHOR, "TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER," AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: How are you doing, man?
Voice of COOPER: Nice to see you.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes, too long.
Voice of COOPER: Your thoughts on this--
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes.
Voice of COOPER: --the incredible images we're watching, as we're waiting to get our first glimpse of these brave astronauts, and just what we have seen over the last 10 days.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Actually, I can't get the image out of my head of a crane coming and collecting the capsule, like the arcade machine, you know?
(LAUGHTER)
EPPS: Exactly, and hoist you right up onto the ship.
DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes.
COOPER: Yes.
DEGRASSE TYSON: Of course, they were gone for 10 days, and any typical visit to the Space Station is much longer than that, so.
COOPER: How long -- how long were you in space?
Voice of EPPS: It was a total of 235 days.
Voice of COOPER: Wow.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes. Yes. Compared to--
(CROSSTALK)
Voice of COOPER: How long have you?
Voice of EPPS: Yes.
Voice of MIKE MASSIMINO, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: 12 days and 14 days, two missions.
Voice of COOPER: OK. Voice of EPPS: Yes.
Voice of COOPER: Incredible.
Voice of MASSIMINO: And different experience.
Voice of COOPER: Incredible.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes, so these are two completely different effects, physiologically, for sure.
You've never had a water landing, right?
Voice of MASSIMINO: No.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: You landed in an airplane?
Voice of MASSIMINO: We landed on a runway.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
Voice of MASSIMINO: Yes, as my -- I hate to say this, but as my commander would say, We landed on a runway, not bopping up and down on the ocean floor. But we were on a runway.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes.
Voice of COOPER: But let me ask you about the photographs--
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Sure.
Voice of COOPER: --that we have now all been just gaga over of the Moon, of the Earth. Obviously, you've stared into space a lot.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: All the time.
Voice of COOPER: But the imagery is just incredible.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Well, of course.
Voice of COOPER: Does it strike you as well? Or is it like, Oh yes, I've seen that?
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Well, consider our capacity to obtain high resolution images today is better than at any previous time.
Voice of COOPER: Yes.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: So, we should not think something unique about this, relative to just what our technology allows.
Voice of COOPER: Yes.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: And so, I mean, I -- we -- I didn't soon forget, Earthrise over the Moon from Apollo 8. And that was, when was that? 66 years ago?
Voice of COOPER: Yes.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: And 60--
Voice of MASSIMINO: 1968.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: 8 -- 1968. 68 years ago, and so--
Voice of MASSIMINO: Yes.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: --no, 58. How--
Voice of MASSIMINO: I don't know. It's math and--
(CROSSTALK)
[21:05:00]
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Do the math.
(LAUGHTER)
Voice of MASSIMINO: I'm just giving you the year.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: You're the engineer.
Voice of MASSIMINO: I'm not doing the math.
(LAUGHTER)
Voice of COOPER: Yes.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: You're the engineer.
Voice of MASSIMINO: Yes.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: So, the images were stunning.
DEGRASSE TYSON: But at any given moment, you don't know how more stunning an image could be--
COOPER: Right.
DEGRASSE TYSON: --until new technology enables it.
COOPER: '58.
DEGRASSE TYSON: '58. Thank you. Thank you. That's the number I was looking for.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: So, I mean, just look at any old TV screen and a TV show, and you say, Did I actually look at that and think that was good? So, so yes, we should be impressed with any modern technology-delivering imagery. No -- no doubt about it. Voice of COOPER: I just think it -- you know, I have a 4- and a 6- year-old, and they were seeing really the Moon, kind of for the first time in this way. And just like, my 6-year-old's stunned, like, the craters, the detail on these incredible craters, which have been just blasted by asteroids.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: For billions of years.
Voice of COOPER: Explain -- just explain that.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes. So here's something to think about.
Voice of COOPER: I mean, like, it's like the Moon is running cover for the Earth.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: No, no, no. We would look exactly like the Moon, were it not for our atmosphere.
Voice of COOPER: Is that right?
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Oh, yes, we're in the same part of the solar system. Climbing through the same area--
(CROSSTALK)
Voice of COOPER: But doesn't the Moon kind of block, give us some cover and take some of the hits for us?
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Well, no -- if it does, it wouldn't be -- wouldn't be any more than the cover we give the Moon--
Voice of COOPER: OK.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: --for things that would come our way, because the Earth is bigger than the Moon. Now there's gravitational focusing, that can happen too. So, something comes near Earth, and it's pulled in a little bit by its gravity, it could focus it onto the Moon, if the Moon happens to be in that direction. That can happen.
But I'm just saying that without our atmosphere, and without our weather systems, that hide the evidence, Earth surface would look exactly like the Moon. And so just, just count your blessings there. In fact, didn't they catch the meteorites flashes--
Voice of COOPER: Yes. Yes.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: --on the -- on the darkened side of the Moon? And so that's happening all the time. That's just another -- another meteorite -- meteoroid, slamming into a planet, in this case, the Moon.
Voice of COOPER: And it's -- yes, it's incredible to me, the -- it's wondrous.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes. And when you got back from we -- did you have -- did your craft get hit by meteoroids? Voice of MASSIMINO: Yes.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: And you have evidence of that?
MASSIMINO: Yes, no, and we went to Hubble, and Hubble certainly had evidence on it, has an exposed radiator on the Wide Field Camera.
DEGRASSE TYSON: Uh huh?
Voice of MASSIMINO: We took that out and brought it home, and it looked like a BB gun had been through it.
Voice of COOPER: Really?
Voice of MASSIMINO: Little craters. Yes, they actually boarded all those craters out to study them.
Voice of COOPER: Would that happen in the Space Station as well?
Voice of EPPS: Oh, yes.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Anything--
Voice of EPPS: On the Cupola, you'll see little divots on the outside.
Voice of MASSIMINO: Yes.
Voice of COOPER: Could you -- I mean, did you -- if you're -- I'm this -- may be a ridiculously stupid question. But when you're inside, do you hear that, do you feel that?
Voice of EPPS: You hear weird sounds, but you don't really know what it is on--
Voice of COOPER: Oh, well that's creepy to me.
(LAUGHTER)
Voice of EPPS: Yes, that is creepy.
Voice of COOPER: So, wait, you're in this -- in this Space Station for 200 days, and you're hearing weird sounds, and you don't know what they are?
Voice of EPPS: I think it was when Butch called down that--
(CROSSTALK)
Voice of MASSIMINO: I was -- what I'd say is it's probably the people she was with.
Voice of COOPER: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
Voice of MASSIMINO: You went out of there (ph). Voice of EPPS: Well, on orbit, you get all kind of things that can hit the station. We were called one night, when satellite kind of broke apart in orbit and it was coming at the Station. You'll get all kind of--
Voice of COOPER: Wow. Do you ever call out, be like, in the middle of the night, like, Hey, was that you? Was that -- what was that?
Voice of EPPS: I didn't call that down. I think that was when we had a crewmate call down.
Voice of COOPER: Yes.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Right. They're in orbit--
(LAUGHTER)
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: They're in orbit around the Earth, so I don't think there's a middle of the night, that concept.
Voice of EPPS: Well, you know--
(LAUGHTER)
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: OK, but. And also just I have to--
COOPER: Don't flex the PhD on me.
(LAUGHTER)
DEGRASSE TYSON: So just sleep period, middle of the sleep period.
COOPER: Yes--
DEGRASSE TYSON: To put some numbers on this. Earth plows through several hundred tons of meteors a day.
COOPER: Really?
DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes, and we see bits. So, at night, when they come through the atmosphere, and they burn up, we say, Oh, they're beautiful shooting star. But, again, it's the atmosphere protecting us.
COOPER: Right.
DEGRASSE TYSON: At all times.
COOPER: But every day--
DEGRASSE TYSON: Every day, even in the daytime, you just can't see it, because the sun is out. But this is going--
(LAUGHTER)
COOPER: Well-- DEGRASSE TYSON: Now, it's maximum between for interesting reasons, between midnight and noon.
COOPER: Uh?
DEGRASSE TYSON: Because that's the side of the Earth, that's the leading edge of our orbit around the sun, right?
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Because if you're in the back, that's midnight, and we keep rotating to sunrise and then noon.
Voice of COOPER: Do you get excited by this, knowing that -- and Senator Kelly was talking about this in the last hour, that an entire new generation of kids is growing up watching this, who are going to be excited, maybe about space, in a way that they hadn't been before.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Perhaps. Most of the kids that I know are really kind of Mars-focused.
Voice of COOPER: Right.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: And we think of this as sort of practice sessions for, Can we pitch tent on the Moon? Can we live there? Can we -- and does NASA still have an ISRU branch, In-Situ Resource Utilization?
Voice of MASSIMINO: I think so.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes, because there's a whole effort of NASA to try to -- imagine bringing a 3D printer to the Moon, and you put the--
Voice of MASSIMINO: You want to--
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: --the regolith into the Moon, and you print out tools and things you might need, instead of bringing them all to the Moon with you.
Voice of MASSIMINO: Yes.
[21:10:00]
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Plus, we're targeting the South Pole. And why? Because the South Pole has craters where the rim is high enough, because at the poles, the sun never gets very high in the sky. So if you have a crater rim that's high enough, sunlight never reaches the bottom of the crater, and it's permanently dark. It is literally where the sun don't shine, and so.
DEGRASSE TYSON: And so, so any comets that have landed on the Moon, scattered water molecules about.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Water molecules that land in sunlight will evaporate and escape. Water molecules that land in this cold trap will stay there forever. And that's at the pole. So, you would go there, and find some way to sort of mine it out of the soils, out of the lunar surface, and then you can drink it. You could separate the hydrogen, and the oxygen, and make rocket fuel. So there's a whole -- the whole operations that are considered for the -- for these future activities.
Voice of COOPER: It blows my mind.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Exactly.
Voice of MASSIMINO: A lot of work.
Voice of COOPER: Miles O'Brien is also standing by.
Miles, I don't know how many launches you covered, and that I covered with you, and listened to you. What stands out to you right now?
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: The fact that they were coming from a little farther than the distance between you and me now, Anderson. I'm in Massachusetts. You're in New York. That's about as far as the shuttle ever went. And it makes a difference when you're going to a destination, doesn't it?
Voice of O'BRIEN: And you know this -- the launch, in many respects, was a lot like a shuttle launch. It has the same basic equipment, little more thrust, but the same visceral feel to the whole experience. But it was different feeling, knowing that there were four human beings going to another celestial body.
But -- and I can't agree with you more on what this means to young people. I want to live in a world, where we have things like this, where humans can come together and do things that transcend the lousy things that humans do to each other on a day-to-day basis. It's an important thing to give young people this hope, and also inspire them to study these hard subjects, which are important.
I'm on my way to becoming a grandfather, Anderson.
Voice of COOPER: Wow.
Voice of O'BRIEN: And I want my grand -- I want my granddaughter to live in a world, where she can see these missions.
O'BRIEN: I've often said to my kids, you know, I was blessed to grow up, sprinkled by Moon Dust.
Voice of O'BRIEN: Seeing the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions, watching Armstrong and Aldrin on the Moon, how lucky was I to have born at that moment, and how inspirational was that to me, and making me think about our place in the universe. And I think it's -- it's hard to put it in the bottom line of a budget for NASA. But there is a huge payback here, I promise you, just like your kids are appreciating now.
Voice of COOPER: Yes. We should point out, the currents are now an issue, that they are -- that they're watching. It's kind of slowing things down a little bit. But four medical divers are actually now on board in with the four astronauts. So, they are checking them out as well, Mike.
Voice of MASSIMINO: Yes, they'll make sure they're OK, before they move them and get them out at the right time.
And the inspiration part of it. I was 6-years-old when they landed on the Moon, and I'm very grateful that I can remember that.
MASSIMINO: And it changed my life. It made me want to grow up to be a part of that. I wanted to grow up to be like Neil Armstrong. He's a little bit too cool. But it made me want to be a part of that program. And I think, now I teach at Columbia, I'm a professor at -- an engineering professor at the engineering school there.
Voice of MASSIMINO: And the enthusiasm, we have a really active, huge, over 250 students, actively participating in our space club, launching rockets, sending satellites to space. I think tomorrow, they're launching one of their CubeSats to space. So, there's so much interest, there's so much more access, to do these things nowadays.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: CubeSats are about this big.
Voice of COOPER: Yes.
Voice of MASSIMINO: Yes.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: They're very nimble in what you can design on them, and your capacity to then--
(CROSSTALK)
Voice of COOPER: I'm still blown away by Voyager.
Voice of MASSIMINO: Yes.
COOPER: That this little thing that wasn't supposed to last very long, that's got, like, an engine the size of, like the -- the light bulb in your refrigerator is--
MASSIMINO: Still going.
COOPER: --is still going.
MASSIMINO: Yes.
COOPER: It's incredible to me.
MASSIMINO: Yes, it's still out there.
DEGRASSE TYSON: Well, it's -- it's just physics.
(LAUGHTER)
MASSIMINO: Yes.
DEGRASSE TYSON: So, I find it highly credible. It's physics.
COOPER: I'm not -- I'm not doubting--
(CROSSTALK)
DEGRASSE TYSON: But I want to add something here that no one is talking about.
COOPER: Yes.
DEGRASSE TYSON: OK? I too was eye witness to the entire Apollo era.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: And I think others may agree, who have this memory, we might look forward to the time Artemis VIII, where you would not be covering the launch or the journey or the splashdown.
Voice of COOPER: It'd just be another--
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Because it would just be routine.
Voice of COOPER: Wow.
[21:15:00]
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Just the same way the later shuttle missions were just routine. And hardly anyone can remember the names of Apollo 15 astronauts. You named Aldrin and Neil Armstrong. Can you name me -- well, you're an astronaut.
Voice of MASSIMINO: You wanted--
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes. Yes. So, it's -- wrong person to ask.
(LAUGHTER)
Voice of MASSIMINO: Yes.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: No, but the fact that, if we want to be a spacefaring culture?
DEGRASSE TYSON: The day will arrive where it is no longer newsworthy to report on going into space. And that's kind of a -- it's a bittersweet fact about becoming spacefaring--
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: --as a routine fact of your -- of your culture.
Voice of COOPER: Want to get a -- all four astronauts are in great condition, we're told. Four medical divers on board.
We're going to take a short break. Our coverage continues in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [21:20:00]
Voice of COOPER: Remarkable images. We are waiting to get our first glimpse at the four astronauts who are said to be in great condition. Medical divers were -- I believe they still are on board the capsule with them, checking them out. They -- those other boats have brought in, I'm not sure if they put it on yet the porch that will -- that will allow them to then bring out the astronauts, and then one by one, bring them out.
Joining us now is former NASA astronaut, Leland Melvin.
COOPER: He flew in two space shuttle missions to the International Space Station.
We're also -- joining me, Dr. Garrett Reisman, who was in the same class, I believe, with Leland.
Voice of COOPER: So Leland, as someone who's gone through this very intense, stressful experience of reentry. In your mind, what is going through the crew's heads now, that they are back on Earth safely. We know that they, according to NASA, are doing as well as they could be doing right now, having gone through this incredible reentry.
LELAND MELVIN, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Hey Anderson, thanks for having me on.
I think the biggest thing is they want to get out of this capsule and get those medical tests done.
Voice of MELVIN: And then one of the things I was thinking about, when we were in space and heading home was, what is the first thing they were going to eat? Is it going to be a pizza? Is it going to be an Inside-Out Cheeseburgers? We want to get some real food in our bellies. And I think that's some of the things. Getting back with their families, breaking bread, having these normal things happening, walking the dog, taking out the trash, those things.
And then also just seeing this -- this whole deposit of information that's coming from the dark side of the Moon to help us with the next journey in Artemis III and Artemis IV, and living on the Moon.
And then -- and also celebrating going around the world maybe, talking to people about, We did this together, as humanity. And I think that's one of the biggest parts of like -- I think when the Apollo astronauts came back, Neil and Buzz and Michael, they went around, and they were the world's astronauts, not just U.S. astronauts, and everyone embraced them as though they were theirs.
Voice of COOPER: Yes.
Voice of MELVIN: And I think that's going to be a beautiful and powerful legacy.
Voice of COOPER: And Leland, you can see the divers in the water, and they're attaching that porch to the capsule, which is the next step, to bringing the astronauts out.
So Leland, after spending time in space with zero gravity, what for you was it like reentering and reacclimating -- you know, coming back to Earth's gravity?
Voice of MELVIN: Anderson, my first mission, I -- we were in space about 11 days. And I think Jeanette and some other people talked about the neuro vestibular system, where you're not using the little rocks that are in your ears to give you orientation of your head. You're now just still relying on your eyes when you're in space. But when you get home, that system is still trying to stabilize to figure out, is this real orientation or not?
So, one of the things that we did, when we came home, was to say, Look at the ocean, and that will help you regauge the gyros in your head, so that you're not walking and turning and then falling over. And that happened to a number of people on their first missions. They would come back, and they would, you know, get excited to be back on terra firma, and then they're like, falling over when they make a turn.
And so, those were some of the things that the doctors told us not to do, Don't drive a car and turn, and don't walk. So, you're walking like Milton the Monster, where you walk and then you stop, and you turn, and then you walk the other way. So, it was getting adjusted like that. But it was -- it was a really exciting time again to be connected back on terra firma and with our families.
Voice of COOPER: And Garrett, I want to bring you in. You're Leland's former classmate.
Garrett, what is the porch that's on there now? What does that allow to happen next?
GARRETT REISMAN, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Yes, it -- you know, I got to say, it kind of reminds me of like the party float that we have out, on the lake, when we go swimming. But they're going to--
Voice of COOPER: Well, that doesn't bode well, because nothing good happens on a party boat on a lake.
(LAUGHTER)
Voice of REISMAN: I just hope -- I hope, they have enough cupholders in there.
(LAUGHTER)
Voice of COOPER: Yes.
Voice of REISMAN: But they when -- they're going to come out one by one, and they're going to get on to that -- that front porch, and then they'll pull away from the capsule, and that gives the helicopters clear access to pluck them out, individually, and bring them to the ship. So hopefully, we're not too far away from seeing them emerge from this capsule. Voice of COOPER: And this is a dumb question. But why -- I mean, is it just that there are distance from the ship and it's easier to take them by helicopter, as opposed to taking them in the boat?
Voice of REISMAN: It's just -- I think it's just faster and it's definitely cooler.
Voice of COOPER: Well that's true.
Voice of REISMAN: And, in case of an emergency, you want to have the capability to get them out as fast as you possibly can. So, even though I'm sure they're doing fine, and they wouldn't mind a little boat ride, I think they're just preparing for the worst.
[21:25:00]
Voice of COOPER: Well, also Leland, if you're, you know, if you're sort of -- you got vertigo or whatever. Maybe being in the waves, I guess, on a boat is probably not the best thing?
Voice of MELVIN: It's definitely not the best thing. I think, getting pulled up straight and then -- and then you can see more of the horizon--
MELVIN: --to help you start getting your gyros gauge, so that you don't have that vestibular neuro situation.
Voice of MELVIN: And I think then they can get there faster, as Garrett said.
And Garrett, and I have a long history in the Astronaut Corps, and it's just so great to have him on here, because he's -- he can tell you some serious, serious crazy stories.
(LAUGHTER)
Voice of COOPER: Garrett, do you want to go ahead and tell us some of those crazy stories? Or are they best left late at night?
(LAUGHTER)
Voice of REISMAN: I'm just going through my head of all the ones that I have about Leland, and I'm trying to -- I'm trying to -- or Massimino. Man, you know. And I can't tell any of those stories, Anderson, I'm sorry.
Voice of COOPER: Well, let me -- let me -- since I have a slew of dumb questions, but I'm very curious about what it's actually like in space. What does it smell like on a spacecraft? I mean, after -- or, I mean after -- yes, what--
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Before or after the beans?
Voice of COOPER: Well, I mean, is it like a chemical smell? Is it just like, is there B.O.? What is it actually like? REISMAN: Yes, so I remember, when I first went up to the Space Station, for the first five minutes, after we opened the hatch from the Space Shuttle, I remember smelling a little whiff of like a locker room smell and--
COOPER: OK.
REISMAN: But then after about five minutes, you get used to it. And I didn't notice it for the next three months.
So, I think -- one of the things, as Neil pointed out, we get this -- or Dr. Gupta pointed out, we get this big fluid shift, where your head gets all puffy.
Voice of REISMAN: And it feels like you're congested, and that dulls your sense of smell, which might be a real blessing, because it might really reek up on that Space Station, and none of us know.
COOPER: Uh-huh?
Was that your experience--
(CROSSTALK)
MASSIMINO: You know, I was going to say what I noticed.
And hello, Garrett and Leland.
When they opened the hatch to the shuttle, the expression of the crew, you know, the guys who were getting you out of there. Because they think--
COOPER: Oh, no, really?
MASSIMINO: Yes, Garrett said you're kind of stuffed up, so you might not smell it. But when they open that hatch, they're like, Whoa.
Voice of MASSIMINO: Sir, what's been going on in here?
(LAUGHTER)
Voice of MASSIMINO: We're all -- seven people sitting together. So, yes, that's the reaction you get.
Voice of COOPER: Interesting.
Voice of MASSIMINO: You just get used to it. And luckily, I guess you're stuffed up a little bit.
Voice of COOPER: And so, what are we seeing here?
Voice of PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: This is the front porch now that has been laid at the side hatch there of Integrity of the Orion capsule. As William Shatner described this, these astronauts have been incarcerated on this ship. That incarceration is now over.
Voice of COOPER: I love you're quoting William Shatner.
Voice of MUNTEAN: Well, you know he was like an inch away from breaking into a spoken word album at the top of the hour. It was pretty good.
Voice of COOPER: Which I would have welcomed, by the way.
Voice of MUNTEAN: So now the astronauts are making, hopefully, a beeline to a beer at some point. This has been quite a nine day, one hour, 32 minute and 15 second journey around the Moon.
The four Navy medical personnel were inside the capsule there with the four seats, two by two, with the mission specialist essentially seated closest to that side hatch there. The Navy crew, using sniffers, circled with those inflatable boats around the capsule, for several moments, trying to make sure that there were no leaking chemicals, no hazardous materials.
Voice of COOPER: Let's just listen to Mission Control.
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED MALE: --poured into the flight control room here. This is reminiscent of the scene after the final shuttle mission of STS-135, although that was the end of a program. This is only the beginning of a program with the--
Voice of COOPER: This is basically, talking about a party at Mission Control right now--
(CROSSTALK)
Voice of MUNTEAN: And who could blame them?
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're standing by for the crew to be extracted from the spacecraft.
Entry flight director Rick Henfling invited all of these flight controllers who have contributed to this mission to enter the flight control room to have an opportunity to receive well wishes and to share the mutual glow that exists in the wake of a textbook mission for Integrity on the front screen here in Mission Control, a sign that says, Welcome home, Integrity, taking humanity back to the Moon, going further and returning safely to Earth.
So all of that jubilation, part of the post splashdown activities, even as we await the crew being extracted from the vehicle to be hoisted onto Navy helicopters for the trip back to the USS John P. Murtha.
Voice of COOPER: You can hear the -- I mean, it's like a cocktail party.
Voice of MASSIMINO: Yes.
Voice of COOPER: I mean, sure they're probably--
(CROSSTALK) Voice of MUNTEAN: A lot of Moon parties tonight.
Voice of COOPER: But -- a lot of Moon parties?
Voice of MUNTEAN: Yes.
Voice of COOPER: That is how what it says?
Voice of MUNTEAN: Yes. I mean, you know, there's a lot of -- a lot to celebrate here.
Voice of COOPER: Yes.
Voice of MUNTEAN: And we've talked a lot about inspiring little kids in science, technology, engineering and math. But I say this as somebody who is at the dawn of their 38th year, you know, it's inspiring to me too. I was born 20 years nearly, after the first landing on the Moon.
Voice of COOPER: Third time you've mentioned how young you are.
Voice of MUNTEAN: Sorry. Sorry.
Voice of COOPER: Go ahead. Annoying.
Voice of MUNTEAN: Hate to call others old.
Voice of COOPER: No, it's fine.
Voice of MUNTEAN: That's not the point.
(LAUGHTER)
Voice of MUNTEAN: It also begs mentioning that Miles O'Brien did mention--
Voice of COOPER: And yet you've mentioned it three times.
[21:30:00]
Voice of MUNTEAN: --being a granddad earlier. My mentor, Miles. I don't -- I don't think that was planned.
MUNTEAN: But this has been a really incredible moment.
Voice of MUNTEAN: And a really strong reminder of American might, when it comes to space flight. And so, we will have now cleared a huge hurdle here.
Voice of COOPER: Let's--
Voice of MUNTEAN: This was an elongated test flight to make sure that the Orion capsule and the Space Launch System could make it around the Moon. They were able to do maneuvering in flight. They did some of that pilot stuff up there. Actually hand-flying the Orion capsule, doing Prox-Ops or the Proximity Operations around one of the stages of the rocket there, in Earth orbit. They went around the Moon, and now they are back.
This is something that has not been done in 53.5 years. And now we are doing it again, in order to essentially plant the flag on the Moon and start a Moon economy as sort of the goal, with the goal of going to Mars. It is something that is truly indescribable, when it comes to, they are literally shooting for the Moon and beyond
Voice of COOPER: Leland, let me ask you, when you're in space, are the -- all those -- you know, all the folks who are down on Earth, who are part of this mission, who are monitoring you guys, men and women, are they white-knuckling it? I mean, are they, as you know, kind of -- while you're up in space, are they on edge all the time? And is it -- I mean, you see them now, relaxing. Is it as stressful for them, you think?
Voice of MELVIN: Anderson, I think, we go through so many years of training, and we train with our -- you know, when we get assigned to a mission, we train with our team--
Voice of COOPER: And wait. And let's -- oh sorry.
Voice of MELVIN: --and we do so many simulations--
Voice of COOPER: The astronauts are starting to come out.
Let's drop the banner, if we can, on the lower cursor, so we don't miss this?
(APPLAUSE)
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jubilation here in the Flight Control Room. The first crew member is out of Integrity.
Voice of MUNTEAN: Christina Koch was to be the first out. She -- that was the plan from NASA. She was seated closest to the door. Of course, they needed to do a bit of triage by the Navy medical team when they arrived in the capsule to make sure that that would still be the order.
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are expecting the other crew members momentarily to be extracted.
Voice of COOPER: There she -- or there's one astronaut.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Someone in orange.
Voice of COOPER: In -- yes.
Voice of MUNTEAN: And these are the--
Voice of COOPER: It looks like a second -- a second astronaut there.
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have two crew members out.
Voice of COOPER: Yes.
Voice of MUNTEAN: Two crew out.
(CROSSTALK)
Voice of MASSIMINO: Yes.
Voice of COOPER: So one is seated.
Voice of MASSIMINO: Yes.
Voice of COOPER: One is being kind of helped to sit down.
Voice of MUNTEAN: You can see, if you look closely, the signature orange pressure suits, manufactured by the David Clark Company of Massachusetts--
(CROSSTALK)
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two crew members out. Two to go.
Voice of MUNTEAN: So two out, two to go, of the grand total of four. The mission specialists who were seated midship were to be out first, and then pilot Glover and Commander Wiseman were to be out last.
Voice of COOPER: And we know the two helicopters will be there to hoist two at a time.
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're about one hour from sunset out in the pacific and it continues to go well.
Voice of COOPER: Looks like the third is out now.
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Integrity's systems functioned perfectly during its entry back to Earth.
And Reid Wiseman, the commander, who will be last out of the vehicle, reported that all the crew members were feeling very well.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: The fact that it hasn't -- the sun hasn't set in San Diego, but it is set here in New York is evidence that Earth is round. God I would--
(LAUGHTER)
Voice of COOPER: Just for any doubters out there?
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes, just -- just in case.
Voice of COOPER: I know a lot of it is--
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Crew member number three now out.
(APPLAUSE)
Voice of MUNTEAN: Obviously, you can hear all the applause there at the Johnson Space Flight Center in the same Mission Control Room they used for shuttle mission after shuttle mission. Voice of MASSIMINO: Sense of relief.
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And now standing by for the Commander Reid Wiseman, who will be last out of his ship.
Bobbing in the Pacific under almost ideal conditions, Integrity spanned 694,000 miles during its journey from launch to splashdown.
Voice of MUNTEAN: The swells are quite placid, enabling this to go pretty smoothly. This is something they practiced over and over again for years out in the Pacific.
[21:35:00]
Voice of COOPER: And, of course, all of us remember, Reid Wiseman -- the -- looks like he is now out of the vehicle.
Looks like he is in the middle of that scrum.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Are they unable to stand up at this point?
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we now have--
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Because they're held up by three people. And it's just I think it's more than boat--
(CROSSTALK)
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reid Wiseman out of the vehicle. All four crew members now out of Integrity.
Voice of EPPS: But also, you are de-conditioned. So, yes, you don't want to stand up alone.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes--
(CROSSTALK)
Voice of EPPS: Yes, even on the shield.
(APPLAUSE)
Voice of COOPER: There's the response, hearing that the Commander Reid Wiseman is lifted (ph).
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
Voice of COOPER: Sanjay, just medically, what do you think it's like for, for these astronauts, sitting in that -- in that boat, that are -- on the porch?
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once again, all four crew members now on the front porch. DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Sorry, Anderson. Can--
COOPER: Just medically, for them, we see them being kind of not carried, but kind of very much helped down to a seated position.
Voice of GUPTA: Yes, this gets back to that same, that same concept that people have been talking about, your neuro vestibular system, your inner ear. Your inner ear, when you're on Earth, it's constantly getting all these inputs, just having gravity gives that input. And that, it goes away for 10 days, in this case, just over close to 10 days.
It's interesting, because the brain can actually train itself pretty quickly to sort of get used to that, and then all of a sudden, you're back into a situation where you have this gravitational force on it again.
We were talking about this last hour. But someone described it to me as sort of the opposite of having sea legs. With sea legs, you almost have so -- too much input into the inner ear, and then you get on dry land, and it reduces. Here, you don't have much input to the inner ear. Then all of a sudden, a lot there. And that's sort of, I think, you know, what makes people feel unstable. They move sort of robotically, because the head feels a little disconnected from the body, all these sorts of things.
It lasts different lengths of time for different people. Astronauts have lots of training, obviously, to deal with this sort of thing. But it's inescapable, and that's the sort of thing that they're -- you're seeing as they get off the craft.
Also, again, these fluid shifts, not to be minimized. You have a lot of fluid shifts, when you're in space. All of a sudden, you got gravity back on your body. You may have low blood pressure. Your heart rates may change. So, the cardiovascular sort of assessment of people, all of that is probably happening now. Maybe some of that happened on the craft itself. But that's the triage, I think what they're talking about.
Voice of COOPER: I mean, honestly, I never want to be sitting next to a person who's having a fluid shift. I mean, it doesn't sound good.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Doesn't sound good.
Voice of COOPER: And especially three others, on a moving boat in rough water? No, thank you.
(LAUGHTER)
Voice of EPPS: It's all--
(CROSSTALK)
Voice of COOPER: Jeanette, did you -- did you have these fluid shifts?
Voice of EPPS: Oh, yes, we did.
Voice of COOPER: Coming out?
Voice of EPPS: You have your emesis bag nearby, just in case.
Voice of COOPER: OK.
Voice of MASSIMINO: It's just gravity. When you get to space -- the fluid is used -- when we're walking around the planet, the fluid is in certain areas. And then when you get to space, no gravity, it pulls up in the upper extremity, and then it gets redistributed when you get back.
Voice of COOPER: Back to--
(CROSSTALK)
Voice of MASSIMINO: So, that's the shift. It's not as bad as it sounds. But now that you mentioned, we need to figure out another word for it.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Fluid shift.
Voice of MASSIMINO: Fluid relocation, yes.
Voice of COOPER: Or maybe it sounds like a 70s, like Dutch band.
Voice of MASSIMINO: Yes.
Voice of COOPER: I don't know.
(LAUGHTER)
Voice of MASSIMINO: Exactly.
Voice of COOPER: Miles, it's just remarkable to see these images. I mean, it harkens back to -- you know, so many people today have not really seen something like this in years.
Voice of O'BRIEN: No, it is a flashback for those of us who witnessed those days, and it's an updated version of that, the Apollo capsule, but in many respects, it is kind of Back to the Future. You know, it's worth pointing out, the shuttle era, the shuttle itself was an inherently dangerous vehicle without any appreciable crew escape on the ride to space.
[21:40:00]
And this vehicle, from the moment they left the launch pad, all the way to space and then some, they had a viable way of pulling an ejection lever and breaking free of the rocket. So, this is, sometimes the simple basic ideas are the better ideas. And the shuttle was, as much as anything, a manifestation of an era of technological hubris, that gave us things like the Concord, which didn't pan out very well either, and it was an attempt to bite off more technology than we had the money to pay for. And sometimes the simple approach is the way to go.
And as nervous as we were about that ablative heat shield, it's a simple idea that actually works really well, and responds well to the laws of physics. So, it's nice to see a system that is sort of tried and true, even though it's new as well.
Voice of COOPER: And Jeanette, you were saying -- I mean, you had a capsule landing, in the ocean. You were brought out by a crane?
Voice of EPPS: Yes. So, we landed on the water, and our trajectory was very precise to land near Pensacola, because that's where the boat was located.
EPPS: And they could come out to get us, use the crane to put us right up on--
COOPER: Where was the crane? The crane was on a boat?
EPPS: It was on the boat.
COOPER: OK.
EPPS: Correct.
COOPER: And so, were you put on a porch too?
Voice of EPPS: No, there was no porch for us. So, we were actually hoisted, the whole capsule was hoisted onto the ship, and the hatch was opened there on the ship.
Voice of COOPER: Uh huh.
Voice of EPPS: And there's a little ledge, but not much.
EPPS: They put a little plank there, open the hatch, and then pull out the commander, then the pilot, then seat one and then seat four--
(CROSSTALK)
Voice of COOPER: So, I mean, they're essentially going to be lifted up into a helicopter, right? I mean--
Voice of EPPS: It's very different than our experience.
Voice of COOPER: Right.
Voice of EPPS: Because they're going to go right into a helicopter to the boat.
Voice of COOPER: We're waiting for the helicopters. One by one we'll take -- the one -- one helicopter will take two, and then another helicopter will come--
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Can I comment on the reentry?
Voice of EPPS: Yes. Voice of COOPER: Please.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: So, there's something that nobody talks about, because everyone is, Oh my gosh, there's a ball of fire coming through, and it's got to, you know, and the heat energy has to dissipate, and it's dangerous.
Yes, all that's true.
DEGRASSE TYSON: But we talk about it as though it's a necessary evil, when in fact, it's a highly-desired fact--
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: --that you don't need fuel to slow down out of orbit.
Voice of COOPER: Don't need--
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: The atmosphere -- it's air-braking.
Voice of COOPER: Right.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: They don't call it that, but that's what it is. The air slows you down. And so, if you're going to rely on that, and not have to take all the fuel necessary -- you know much fuel you would need to slow down from 18,000 miles an hour in Earth orbit, and coming from the Moon?
Voice of COOPER: Which would increase the--
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: You're going even faster.
Voice of COOPER: Which would also increase, I assume, the danger of it, if you have got all this fuel.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Well, that's right, so. But I just want to make the fact, make the statement, that if you're in orbit around the Earth, and you brought fuel to slow down? You could slow down, and then just drop to Earth with parachutes, and there'd be no reentry or anything. No reentry fires, nothing.
Voice of COOPER: Really?
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes, because that's -- that's because of how fast they were going, that all that energy has to go somewhere. The kinetic energy of their movement through space. If I eat that kinetic energy with fuel coming out the other side?
Voice of COOPER: That's interesting.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Then I don't burn up coming through the atmosphere. I would just drop through. So, we love the fact.
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED MALE: --to bring home our astronauts. And with us now is Amit Kshatriya, the NASA Associate Administrator--
Voice of COOPER: So they've now separated, Pete -- Jeanette, they've separated from the capsule. They are now in that--
Voice of MUNTEAN: In the front porch.
Voice of COOPER: --floating porch?
Voice of EPPS: Exactly.
Voice of COOPER: The front porch is now floating?
Voice of EPPS: Yes, it's--
Voice of MUNTEAN: It's essentially like a--
Voice of EPPS: Rescue boat.
Voice of MUNTEAN: Yes.
Voice of EPPS: Sort of a -- yes.
Voice of MUNTEAN: It's like one of the--
(CROSSTALK)
Voice of COOPER: It's got a -- it's got a motor--
Voice of MUNTEAN: --sequences--
Voice of COOPER: It's got a motor?
Voice of MUNTEAN: --in an airliner. This is like, essentially that raft.
Voice of COOPER: Yes.
Voice of MUNTEAN: And then we're going to see the MH-60 helicopters swoop in, hoist each of the astronauts up one by one. It's a somewhat complicated process. And then take them to the John P. Murtha, which is only a two or three minute flight away. We're talking like 3,000 yards away, where the crew there, of course, will greet them. There will be in the medical bay, each astronaut and assessed.
But this is sort of, you know, it's kind of plane strengths and automobiles here. We're going from the capsule to the raft, to a helicopter, to the boat to Naval Station, San Diego, and then they will take a jet to Houston, the Johnson Space Flight Center. It's quite complicated, but very necessary here to sort of make the last- mile journey, if you'll pardon the pun, of what has been a 600,000 mile journey.
Voice of COOPER: Let's just listen in.
Voice of AMIT KSHATRIYA (ph), ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR, NASA: --that stacked the vehicle in Florida, that integrated the vehicle in Denver, had fired the engines in Stennis, that fired the boosters in Promontory. I mean, this is the entire team coming together and being tested by the environment that this machine went through. And they did it right. The work was good. They did it right.
Voice of COOPER: A lot of reasons for celebration right now by everybody who's been involved this from NASA.
Leland, how long is it from the time you get back to the time you get to see family and loved ones?
[21:45:00]
Voice of MELVIN: Well, if you're married and have a spouse, they let you do it right away.
But if you're a single guy like me, they left me in crew quarters, and everyone turned the lights out and left.
MELVIN: So, I'm there kind of like by myself. So, I was kind of--
COOPER: Wait a minute. What?
MELVIN: Not until the -- not until the next day I saw my family.
And, you know, I was in the bed, laying on my back, trying to push off, like I was in a float to the bathroom, and it got kind of crazy. So, they now, I think, have changed things for the single people to have--
COOPER: Yes, I mean--
MELVIN: --someone that can be with them there.
COOPER: --it's deeply unfair.
(LAUGHTER)
MELVIN: Really unfair.
COOPER: Oh, no one? Yes, you just stay in your room.
(LAUGHTER)
COOPER: Garrett, were you isolated like this as well?
MELVIN: And they -- and they locked -- they locked the door.
COOPER: Yes.
Wait. They locked you in a room?
MASSIMINO: Maybe that was just Leland.
(LAUGHTER)
MASSIMINO: I've never heard this before.
Voice of REISMAN: No, you see, Anderson?
Voice of COOPER: Yes.
Voice of REISMAN: I actually -- I actually found a woman that would marry me.
(LAUGHTER)
Voice of COOPER: To--
Voice of REISMAN: So, I didn't have that--
(LAUGHTER)
Voice of COOPER: To avoid that -- they seem to avoid it.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Just to avoid that, OK.
Voice of REISMAN: Yes. Yes.
COOPER: Wow.
Leland, how long were you locked in that room? Just overnight?
(LAUGHTER)
REISMAN: Yes.
MELVIN: It felt like eternity, Anderson.
COOPER: Yes.
MELVIN: Because I've been in space for like, 12 days, and--
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Could you knock on the door and say, like, My fluids are moving, I got to get out. I need--
MELVIN: All that fluid movement--
COOPER: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
DEGRASSE TYSON: Home alone.
COOPER: Yes.
DEGRASSE TYSON: Maybe we forgot somebody.
MELVIN: Yes.
COOPER: Wow.
REISMAN: I actually spent the first night back, I actually went to an Airbnb, and I spent it with my wife there, and I remember--
Voice of COOPER: Oh--
Voice of REISMAN: --after being up in space for three months, waking up in the middle of the night and rolling over, which you can't do in space, because when you roll over in space, it feels exactly the same, you don't have -- no gravity.
Voice of COOPER: Yes.
Voice of REISMAN: So, when I rolled over, it felt like paradise. I remember that was just like, Oh, wow, it's great to be back on Earth. I can roll over.
Voice of COOPER: Did NASA rent the Airbnb, or was it -- did your wife rent that? Like, I'm just a little--
Voice of REISMAN: No, my wife -- we were government employees. My wife rented it and--
Voice of COOPER: OK. All right.
Voice of REISMAN: Yes. Yes. That was not--
Voice of COOPER: Wow.
Voice of REISMAN: That was not the taxpayer dollar.
Voice of COOPER: That's got to be surreal to be in space, you know, earlier in the day.
COOPER: And then you're in an Airbnb. You know, that's kind of--
REISMAN: Yes.
COOPER: --that's amazing.
REISMAN: Yes.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: By the way--
Voice of COOPER: Sorry. Go ahead, Garrett.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: There's just another fact that people just ignore, and that is, But sci-fi has solved this long ago. If we had rotating Space Stations, you could have gravity in space, and none of this would be a problem, the inner ear, the blood flow, the fluid collecting.
Voice of COOPER: Wait. If there were rotating Space Stations?
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Then you have centrifugal forces, simulating gravity.
Voice of MUNTEAN: Yes, von Braun came up with all this--
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes. So, you just -- just do that.
(CROSSTALK)
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Every sci-fi movie knows to do that. NASA has never done it. And if they did do it, we wouldn't have the bone loss, the medical problem. And we keep thinking that zero-G is a property of space. No, it's not. It's a property of not having rotation or engines getting fired.
Voice of COOPER: Can I just be honest? This whole thing reminds me of conversations I had when I was like in seventh grade, playing Dungeons & Dragons, and baseball. I'm like, this is a bunch of nerd--
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
Voice of MUNTEAN: --a little bit?
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes.
Voice of COOPER: I love that -- no, I'm enjoying this. It's like, I'm back with my nerd friends--
(CROSSTALK)
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: He's dog-whistling to his geek audience.
Voice of COOPER: Just talking about fantasies.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes. I'm just saying that--
(LAUGHTER)
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes.
Voice of COOPER: Let's watch this. Look, chopper -- this is the first chopper coming and taking the person -- let's watch and let's see.
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED MALE: --more we learn about what they did, the more magical it seems, what they were able to accomplish, given the technology and the learnings that they've have.
Voice of COOPER: OK, so they're not getting a play by play. They're now lowering a diver down, a crew member down who will, I guess, place -- Jeanette, I guess he or she will place the harness on the astronaut?
Voice of EPPS: Well, and they've got a -- I mean, the downwash from the helicopter--
Voice of COOPER: Wow. Look at that.
Voice of EPPS: --that's a big problem, yes.
Voice of MASSIMINO: I thought they might use a basket--
Voice of EPPS: Yes, I thought they would use a basket too, but it looks like they actually have to put them, yes.
Voice of MASSIMINO: Old school.
Voice of EPPS: Exactly.
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED MALE: --different and so they had to go straight to the Moon.
Voice of EPPS: You have a downwash.
Voice of COOPER: This is incredible.
Voice of EPPS: Yes.
Voice of MUNTEAN: So, this is one of four Navy helicopters that was on the deck of the John P. Murtha. Two were actually flying, as camera ships, one is able to give us some of these images that we've been seeing. There's another helicopter in standby, about ready to take one of the astronauts. They go in sets of two. And then, of course, there is this one. Of course, they are clearly fighting the rotor wash here, which appears to be quite sizable.
The conditions have been quite good here off the coast of San Diego. The swells were low, pretty large, high pressure system, making the weather quite good for this splashdown. And NASA has parameters for everything. They had parameters about the wind. They had parameters about lightning. They had parameters about solar flares for the launch. Most of the concerns--
Voice of COOPER: Wow. Look at that.
Voice of MUNTEAN: --when it comes to this were about the sea condition.
Voice of COOPER: And they have--
Voice of MUNTEAN: So.
Voice of COOPER: --they have -- they have one -- they have one--
[21:50:00]
Voice of MUNTEAN: Now it seems like one of the astronauts is now on the hoist. Hard to tell which one. They're all wearing, the quintessential NASA emergency orange pressure suit there, as they are hoisted up. This is quite--
(CROSSTALK)
Voice of MUNTEAN: And it is--
Voice of EPPS: First of all--
Voice of MUNTEAN: And it is quite perilous. You know, this is--
Voice of EPPS: I think it's-- Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Wait, but answer me something. There were at least 30 people that arrived on the Zodiac craft, OK? And they got four astronauts. Where did the Zodiac people come from?
Voice of MUNTEAN: The Zodiac people came from the John P. Murtha.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: So, put them back in the Zodiac--
Voice of MUNTEAN: It's a -- it's a valid point.
(CROSSTALK)
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: --and put them back to the boat.
Voice of MUNTEAN: I think the goal here is expediency. And so, they want to get them to the boat quickly.
Voice of MASSIMINO: Yes.
Voice of COOPER: It's also--
(CROSSTALK)
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: --Zodiac.
Voice of MUNTEAN: I'm not sure which astronaut said it. It's much cooler to ride on a helicopter.
Voice of COOPER: Also, it is very badass.
Voice of MUNTEAN: Than on a boat.
Voice of COOPER: I mean, it's very cool.
Voice of MUNTEAN: Yes.
Voice of MASSIMINO: That's like cool. But I wonder what the--
Voice of EPPS: But if you're de-conditioned--
Voice of MASSIMINO: --what the gyro is going through right now.
Voice of COOPER: Yes.
Voice of MASSIMINO: This is what I want to ask them. What was that like, getting hoisted?
Voice of COOPER: Well, I mean, the--
Voice of MUNTEAN: It's going to other helicopter on station now.
Voice of COOPER: This is the second helicopter coming--
(CROSSTALK)
Voice of MUNTEAN: Over what is known as the front porch-- Voice of COOPER: Jeanette, you were lifted by a crane. What was that like?
Voice of EPPS: We were inside the capsule, though.
Voice of COOPER: Oh, that's right, of course.
Voice of EPPS: So, was not nearly this--
Voice of COOPER: OK.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: And they hadn't opened the capsule yet.
Voice of EPPS: Exactly.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Until you were on the deck.
Voice of EPPS: Correct. And so this is, I'm sure, the crew trained this, and--
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes.
Voice of EPPS: --and you have to go through a lot--
Voice of COOPER: Let's listen into what NASA is saying now.
(CROSSTALK)
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That person will touch down in the front porch just there. The crew members already outfitted with a harness that will allow them to quickly attach to the hoisting device.
Voice of COOPER: And NASA is sending -- is talking to a different feed. That's why it does not match the image that you're seeing. So there's another helicopter. Again, this is a NASA feed. We don't control this.
There, now that's what they're talking about.
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Throwing water out at the center there.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: That's a cool image right there
Voice of EPPS: Yes.
Voice of COOPER: Yes.
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The front porch.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: You know, movies with helicopters--
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And now three astronauts in the recovery--
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: --do financially better, on average, than movies that don't have helicopters in them. Voice of COOPER: Is that right?
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: So that, in fact, the movie "Titanic" had a helicopter in it.
Voice of COOPER: It's just you, the--
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Think about it.
(LAUGHTER)
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And here we go. Second astronaut now off the front porch, getting hoisted into the second helicopter.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: Because helicopters are bad--
Voice of COOPER: This seem--
(LAUGHTER)
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: They crash every once in a while too. You got to be careful.
Voice of MUNTEAN: It's problematic.
Voice of COOPER: Yes.
Voice of MUNTEAN: Thankfully, the MH-60 is a twin. So, an engine failure, they will still be able to fly theoretically--
(CROSSTALK)
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: --distance away to give room for the first helicopter--
Voice of COOPER: So, let's listen -- let's listen to the NASA.
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: --and pick up the third astronaut.
Voice of MUNTEAN: So we can see the rotor wash there at the very 12 o'clock position on the stream.
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As we wait for that helicopter to come back, make its way back around.
Voice of MUNTEAN: Seems they have it down there. Seemed that first, it was a bit rocky, and now it seems a bit more fluid.
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just want to mention that the President of the United States called on NASA Administrator--
Voice of COOPER: Yes.
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: --today, while he was on the ship, just minutes after we interviewed him live on our coverage, and congratulated him and NASA on this history-making moment tonight. Voice of COOPER: Leland, Garrett, you practiced this maneuver. What was it like?
Voice of REISMAN: Pensacola with the Navy, as -- when we were astronaut candidates.
Voice of MELVIN: Yes.
Voice of REISMAN: And we went out into Pensacola Bay, and a helicopter came out to pick us up.
Leland, you remember that?
And at first I remember, when a helicopter came over, that rotor wash was really bad.
REISMAN: And the water was getting in my mouth, and I felt like I drank half the Pensacola Bay, and I thought, I'll never be able to actually accomplish this, connecting to that wire and being hoisted up.
And then when it gets right on top of you, like you see in the picture right now, on the screen, you're actually in the eye of the storm, it actually gets very calm, and then you can be lifted up. And when you get to the helicopter and they bring you inside to give you a cookie.
Voice of COOPER: Wow. What kind of cookie?
Voice of MELVIN: And Garrett, but they dropped us back in the water. Remember that?
REISMAN: They give you a cookie and then they kick you right back out again. You're right. And they--
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: They kick you?
MELVIN: --they kick you.
REISMAN: It's like, catch and release.
Voice of COOPER: Hopefully they will not be doing that to the actual astronauts this time.
So that is, I believe the third astronaut now has been taken off. Looks like there -- so there's just one left to go, I assume, the Commander, maybe.
Voice of EPPS: Yes, probably.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: They would have been all home by now if they all went in the little boats.
(LAUGHTER)
Voice of COOPER: Yes.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: I'm just -- I'm pretty sure.
Voice of MASSIMINO: I'm just glad that Leland got a cookie.
(LAUGHTER)
Voice of MASSIMINO: Because I was going to say--
Voice of MUNTEAN: Maybe it sounds like a--
(CROSSTALK)
Voice of MASSIMINO: --I got locked inside, and didn't even get a cookie.
Voice of MELVIN: Hey Mass, come on.
Voice of MASSIMINO: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
Voice of COOPER: Let's watch this. This is the last--
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Back over to the--
Voice of COOPER: --chopper coming in for the last astronaut.
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here it comes.
Making its final approach here.
[21:55:00]
The last astronaut, Commander Reid Wiseman, now off the front porch, and almost into the second helicopter. Both now on their way back to the ship, where we are, the USS John P. Murtha, just west of San Diego in the Pacific Ocean.
Voice of COOPER: Incredible. Just incredible.
Voice of MUNTEAN: The work does not stop here. And there is a NASA team, called the Sasquatch team, and I'm not making this up, that goes out--
Voice of COOPER: You mean--
Voice of MUNTEAN: --and looks for all of the parts that are associated with the Orion capsule, that includes the hatch that blew when the parachutes opened. They will look for the parachutes. They call it the Sasquatch team, because all of this is hard to find.
(LAUGHTER)
Voice of MUNTEAN: So they will pull up.
Voice of COOPER: I'm glad that NASA has a sense of humor.
Voice of MUNTEAN: I know. It is nice.
(CROSSTALK)
Voice of COOPER: It's nice, I like them.
Voice of MUNTEAN: They will pull up the John P. Murtha on the port -- on the portside of the John P. Murtha, the left side, for those not nautically inclined. To grab the parachutes that were deployed. Remember, the main shoots were collectively the size of a football field. And now we're seeing--
Voice of COOPER: Wow.
Voice of MUNTEAN: --the MH-60 Seahawk helicopter here.
Voice of COOPER: Let's just listen to the sound of the power of this helicopter. Let's just listen to this sound.
(HELICOPTER LANDING)
Voice of COOPER: So, this is the second helicopter.
We will not be seeing them come out, I'm told. Again, we don't control these images. This is -- this is NASA's operation. I'm told, though, that we will not be seeing them come out. But let's just see what we see.
Both helicopters have landed. All the astronauts are aboard those two helicopters, if I'm not mistaken.
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: --mission audio loops.
Voice of MUNTEAN: Obviously, much easier to pick out the astronauts--
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: --one another.
Voice of MUNTEAN: --on board these helicopters, because they're the ones wearing--
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: --Integrity--
Voice of MUNTEAN: --the bright orange pressure suits. Everyone else is wearing military green, olive flight suits.
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two more helicopters on their way to the flight deck.
Voice of COOPER: I was wrong. So each -- each helicopter--
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The other, one of our imagery helicopters.
Voice of MUNTEAN: So, this was one of the camera ships--
Voice of COOPER: Oh, two -- two in each, I was right. OK, so this is an imagery team coming in.
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: --beautiful views.
Voice of COOPER: They were helping get the images, the pictures.
Voice of UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Set amid a gorgeous, soon to be sunset here in the Pacific Ocean.
Voice of COOPER: Look at that shot.
Voice of MUNTEAN: You can see the cutaway of the John P. Murtha there. It's called a well deck ship. So it has the flat deck on the back for helicopter landings, but it also has essentially a big mouth at the bottom of it. And that will be used to recover the Orion capsule, recover Integrity, as it is essentially latched to the ship and pulled in.
And there lies a ton of forensic evidence for NASA engineers, at NASA facilities, across the country, to look at what went well and what did not go well, especially when it comes to this reentry, because there was so much intrigue about how the ablative heat shield, the Avcoat material, would hold up to the atmosphere.
So, under this deck that you're seeing live, where these three Seahawk helicopters have just landed, that is where the capsule will be recovered here in a matter of hours.
So the recovery of the humans on board, the recovery of the crew, has sort of reached the end of its first stage. But the recovery of parts and pieces and the capsule itself is about to just begin.
Voice of DEGRASSE TYSON: If I can add to that. Returning from the Moon has twice the kinetic energy as you would just coming out of orbit. So, you would need that much more heat shield, relative to anybody returning from orbit. So, I can fully see why we'd be giving extra attention, because we haven't come back from the Moon in 60 years, yes.
Voice of MUNTEAN: And especially, since the hundred or so chunks that broke off of the heat shield during Artemis I, the uncrewed mission, essentially paving the way for this mission, of the whole system itself.
[22:00:00]
We're seeing the Navy crew there on the deck, essentially tying down the helicopter, chalking it, preparing for unloading here. There are a couple shots here, you can see the pilots there in the front.
