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Artemis II Astronauts Hold News Conference on Moon Mission; Artemis' Glover: "Everything We Did Up There was a Four-Person Activity"; Artemis' Wiseman: "It's Hard to Fully Grasp What We Just Went Through"; Trump Says Israel-Lebanon Peace Talks Could Happen at the White House within Two Weeks; Airlines Weigh Cutting Flights, Increasing Fares as Fuel Costs Rise 3-3:30p ET

Aired April 16, 2026 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

VICTOR GLOVER, ARTEMIS II PILOT: ... get this job. This is no one's first job. It's not an entry-level thing, but I would encourage them to start now before they even are on that journey to really get comfortable asking questions and then listening to their peers but also to their mentors. I think that has been a game changer for all of us. There's so much to know in this business and none of us knows it all.

Yes, it is my call sign, but I do not know everything, and we -- we have to rely on the -- the wisdom of the village so much that it needs to be a part of it. It needs to be unconscious. You need to be unconsciously competent at asking a question or when people are just having a conversation that impacts something, you need to know to just savor it. Take it in and -- and make it a part of what you believe.

The three things I've always encouraged young people to do, I think, still apply to --l to be gritty or resilient, to be a lifelong learner, and to be a good teammate.

CHRISTINA KOCH, ARTEMIS II MISSION SPECIALIST: So good. I love everything I've heard. The three things that I usually say, and I don't think they've changed, are find your fulfillment. I used to say find your passion, but for me it's changed to find what you can do the slowest for the longest and still absolutely love it and go in that direction. Do what scares you. Path of least resistance isn't usually the path that will give the most back to the world and give you the most sense of courage and confidence.

And finally, support those around you. The benefits that compound when you support those around you and they support you back are just immeasurable.

JEREMY HANSEN, ARTEMIS II MISSION SPECIALIST: Maybe the one I'll emphasize is just follow the example that people saw here. Don't do it alone and share what you're trying to accomplish with others, because you need the support of others to do big things. And so, share your goals, be brave enough to share them, and then you'll be surprised how people surround you and lift you up to accomplish them. Thanks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, we'll head over to our phone bridge. Our next question is from Andrea (ph) with the Houston Chronicle. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, I'd like to ask about mental health. You

know, it was a very busy mission. How were you able to take care of yourself, you know, get some rest and some me time when you guys are sharing just that small area throughout the mission? Thanks.

REID WISEMAN, ARTEMIS II COMMANDER: There wasn't much me time. There wasn't.

GLOVER: You know, we have sprinkled this in throughout other topics, but everything we did up there was a four-person activity, minimum, everything, how we ate, slept, flew the vehicle, and some of it was in -- on purpose. A lot of it we realized real time. When Jeremy exercised, we were all exercised.

It was a team effort to the last, you know, period. And so, I just -- just want to emphasize that we -- we actually, I think the me space was maybe a myth. That 15-minute checkout when you're talking to your family, it did feel like being teleported out of the vehicle, but you teleported right back.

And so, we embraced that. That was a part of it, though. That was a facet, a flavor, an ingredient of how we flew the mission, and instead of trying to avoid that, I don't know -- I'm speaking for us, and we also don't do that often, but I would say from the proof in that pudding, we leaned into it and -- and used it as a way to get through instead of trying to fight it the whole time.

KOCH: Yes.

WISEMAN: Yes, I think the one thing I want to add is just we have tried over the last three years to be very good at communicating, which is what you just said. But just -- just -- if I -- if you have a bad night of sleep or if something is angering you or if -- if something is off in your balance, just talking about that to the other three crew members just so they know where you are, where you're coming from today, and that it's not directed at them and they can help you out.

And I don't know, as soon as you have the courage to kind of express that to a couple of friends, all of a sudden your friends are in it right alongside with you. And so, we -- we really got exceptionally good at communicating. I didn't think we would get as exceptionally good at like crawling all over each other for 10 days, but we did get good at that too. It's tight up there, but we -- we really communicated extremely well on this mission from day one until day 10 and now -- even now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay, we'll take our next question from Josh (ph) with Space.com.

Josh, if we're -- if you're talking, we can't hear you.

GLOVER: Courtney, while we wait, can I make one other comment?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go ahead. GLOVER: I just wanted to add, because, you know, folks have followed, I want to go back and add one piece to this previous question. Thank you for asking about mental health. It is so important. We have professional help as well. We have a team of operational psychologists and psychiatrists that help us skill up to be ready to -- to accomplish things like this. And so, we did not just do that on our own. We have professional help, just like we do simulations of entry and ascent, launch.

[15:05:05]

We have folks that help us navigate the challenges of, we call it behavioral health and performance, but of mental and team preparation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Great. Good point.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay, we'll head over to Alicia (ph) with Mashable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... before 2025, NASA repeatedly stated that the first Artemis moon landing would see the first woman and the first person of color on the moon. That language has since been removed from agency materials. I'd like to ask each one of you, do you believe NASA should still adhere to that original commitment for the first landing mission and why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a good -- that's a good question.

KOCH: Yes, that's a great question. Our understanding of that statement was basically that the Artemis campaign as a whole will usher in an era where that is true and that it would happen naturally because our astronaut corps, because of decisions we made collectively decades ago, represents our entire country and our entire world in many ways. We're proud of that. We're proud that the people in our corps achieve excellence and strive for excellence in all the same ways. And the fact is, you don't have to try too hard to make that come true, to make that be the reality of this mission. You'd actually have to try harder to not make that be true in the astronaut corps that we have. And I do think that's something to celebrate, that decades ago we made the decision that everyone who has a dream gets to work equally hard to achieve that dream, and that if we're not going for all and by all, we aren't answering humanity's call to explore, which is what we do here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Awesome. Perfect.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. Our next question is from Claire Cameron with Scientific American.

CLAIRE CAMERON, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN: Hi, there. I just wanted to ask a little bit more about, you know, some of the challenges that you all face on -- on the spacecraft. Particularly, you know, a lot of our readers were particularly interested in the toilet problems. All right, I just wondered if you could speak to that and if there's anything that you wish was different on the capsule or had been better or improved. WISEMAN: I do not mind starting this. We probably all want to throw a

little bit in. I just want to say 100 percent point blank, that was a wonderful toilet. The toilet worked great. Where we had an issue, and it was -- it was an issue for sure, is that our primary vent line, which takes, you know, when you go to the bathroom, at the end of doing that, you flush the toilet. The toilet flushed just fine, but then when the liquid went out the bottom of the toilet, it got clogged up in our vent line. And our tank can only hold about, you know, maybe, I'm -- I'm guessing like under 10 urination events, I guess, that tank can hold, and then it's got to be dumped.

And for the first two days of the mission, it was fun to watch that thing get dumped. I mean, that is an interesting thing to see out the window. It's just like a billion little tiny flecks of ice heading out into deep space. But that primary vent line got clogged or gunked, or we'll wait and see exactly what the technical reason was, and that put a limitation on us. So, definitely, for those great engineers that made that toilet, I don't want them hanging their head low. They should hang it very high. It was -- it was a great piece of gear.

And then what did we -- what did we learn? Like, there's always things we need to improve. I think the thing, just speaking for myself, the thing that really surprised me on this mission was how well the spacecraft handled and how well the machine supported the four humans on board. We were a little cold the first two days. They warmed it up. They, like, they fixed everything that we asked.

The thing that we need to probably work on for the next mission is now we know the things that we didn't know before we launched. Like, when you want to go into a bag and get lunch, but you got to dig through a thousand different things to get to lunch, it makes it really hard and cumbersome to eat on a very busy day. There are different ways that we could manage the -- the cabin during workout.

Like, we have learned all these little nuances that we can make Artemis III, IV, V just bring the gains down on those things so that they can focus, which we've always said, on their task. Rendezvousing with spacecraft in orbit, getting on the lunar surface, and building a sustainable presence on the -- on the moon. Like, we hold the key to that lock, and we've already started debriefing so that they don't have to worry about that lock.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our next question is from Robert Pearlman with collectSPACE.com.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We've been listening to the crew of Artemis II as the astronauts share their experiences and some lessons learned with the world. Also, rave reviews for the toilet on board the capsule, which Reid Wiseman, the commander on the mission, said works spectacularly well, though there was an issue with the line. It kept getting clogged.

Perhaps the only snafu on what was otherwise an outstanding mission, one that has positively impacted the world. As one of the astronauts was describing, she said that she was moved when Christine Koch's husband told her she'd made a difference. [15:10:07]

She started crying, saying, that's all we ever wanted.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: I know. It is -- it's really -- clearly, this was so affecting on all of them, and how could it not be what you've seen. And -- and really cool to hear them talk about their personal experiences. We're joined now by former NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao. He's the author of the soon-to-be-released book, "Dinner with an Astronaut." He's also with us, CNN's Pete Muntean, and Adam Frank. He's a professor of astrophysics at the University of Rochester and author of the "Everyman's Universe" newsletter.

Good to have all of you here.

Leroy, let's start first with you, former astronaut yourself. I -- I think we were all struck by how -- they were saying they've been in medical testing, they've been in all these debriefing things, that they really haven't had time yet to fully reflect on what they experienced. But they did touch on just how the magnitude, I think, of this experience on them, how they're forever changed by what they saw. What did you think about what you heard from them?

LEROY CHIAO, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Absolutely. I mean, you know, even if you go into low-Earth orbit, flying into space, I don't think anyone does that without it fundamentally changing your viewpoint, your perspective. And even more so if you leave Earth orbit and you actually go somewhere like around the moon, right?

So, I was inspired as an eight-year-old kid watching Apollo 11, wanting to become an astronaut myself. And so, I lived vicariously through them getting to see that view of the Moon. And you know, you could tell from the press conference, they're all on cloud nine, had a great mission, basically flawless, a few glitches in the toilet, but so what? And you know, I -- I think it's great.

DEAN: Yes.

SANCHEZ: And Pete, among the lessons learned that we just heard there from Reid Wiseman, managing space during workouts and also accessing lunch seems to be something they're going to streamline.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Here is the news that I'd heard. Not only was the toilet wonderful and what so many people were thinking about, Reid Wiseman said, there was a vent line that was clogged that put a limitation in the number of urine events. NASA speak for having to pee.

So, they said that it was making it hard to essentially blow that out into space when it would turn into crystalline pee. And that was the difficulty there. The other news that I heard was that there were problems leading up to reentry, still 80,000 miles from Earth, a smoke alarm went off, which he said got attention of the astronauts on board Artemis II and in the Orion capsule and the Integrity spacecraft, and that things were tense. That's not something we'd heard before. And then something that was really interesting, a question from one of

the Mashable reporters who asked, why is it that the idea that a woman and a person of color would not be the first people on the moon, that's been scrubbed from the NASA websites under the Trump administration. She said decisions made decades ago will lead to it anyway, that you might have to try harder to make that not the case. And she says it's pretty easy to actually make it so that it's a very inclusive crew that will ultimately land on the moon on Artemis IV, scheduled for 2028.

I think those were the things that really stood out to me. I think the more squishy, esoteric things that we talked about here, the things that are novel to spaceflight are also really interesting. So many astronauts talk about the idea that you have to leave the world to really understand the world.

DEAN: Yes.

MUNTEAN: And they were talking so much about being, in essence, moved to emotional tears in some cases. When you see the Sun and the Moon be -- eclipsed the sun as they were sort of on the back side of the moon, they're the only four pairs of eyeballs who have ever seen the far side of the moon in such a way, at least of this generation. It's really quite incredible, something that they've gone through.

And then just the idea that they all worked as a team. This is something they briefly touched about in their remarks not long after splashdown last week. But Wiseman said, the commander, we launched as friends, returned as best friends.

Jeremy Hansen, the Canadian astronaut on board, says this is something that we did together. And, of course, they really emphasize this was a team effort, not just beyond the four-person crew on the capsule, but the NASA engineers, those involved in making everything.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

MUNTEAN: Yes, probably including the toilet, and then mission control. I mean, this was really a team sport. And they really continue to emphasize that over and over again, of something we can do together as not only Americans, but together as humans.

DEAN: As people, yes, for sure.

And Adam, I want to go to you, because building on what Pete was talking about, there were some tense moments. There were some things that could have been improved, they said. But Reid Wiseman also said he, in his opinion, they could put the Artemis III Orion on the space launch system tomorrow, launch it, and the crew would be in great shape. That was a pretty resounding vote of confidence there. What did you think about that statement?

ADAM FRANK, PROFESSOR OF ASTROPHYSICS, UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER: Yes, I think, you know, what is remarkable about the -- the whole mission was it shows you the value of getting things right. Right?

[15:20:08]

You know, we live in a country with a lot of science denial at the highest levels. And this, what you see is like, when it really matters, you have to get the answer right. And the NASA team that has been working on this for so long really showed the power of American science and technology at a time when -- you know, they're really under threat, that -- that they can deliver the -- the team, the astronauts who are risking their lives and putting themselves, you know, in a position where, you know, of great danger can execute the mission. The team that's supporting them, the science and technology that supports them can -- can really deliver when it matters, because, you know, there's no margin for error.

So, I -- what I really feel like is this really re-emphasized to people that you have to invest over decades in science and technology in order to have these kinds of returns. And as we also saw with what the astronauts were talking about, how it changes their own perspective. We're on the frontier now. You know, within a couple of Artemis missions, they're going to start building that moon base. And soon, lots of people in 10, 20, 30 years, lots of people are going to have that experience. And I think it will fundamentally change human beings and how we view ourselves and our planet, too.

SANCHEZ: It could be incredible. Leroy, last word to you, as -- as we heard some of the astronauts, Victor Glover, especially talking about not yet having had a chance to process everything that they just went through. How do you think they're going to remember this experience? How do you think we're going to remember Artemis II as part of the bigger plan for the future of exploration of space?

CHIAO: Well, I absolutely understand what he's talking about. You know, 10-day flight is what a -- a kind of an average shuttle mission was and you're just so busy. You get up there, you're up there for 10, 12 days, you come back and it's almost like a dream. It's like you've been training for years. You could do this. And it's like, wow, what happened? Did I really do that?

So, it is going to take some time for them to remember and process it. All you can remember when you get back right away are glimpses and moments. But yes, this is a huge deal. First astronauts to go back around the moon in over -- almost 54 years, the farthest humans from the planet. And it sets the stage for the landing that's coming up.

So, these guys, they're going to -- it's going to take some time to process, but they're on cloud nine, as I said. They've had a very successful mission. They're looking forward to the future and inspiring the next generation and all that goes with it.

DEAN: Amazing stuff. All right, Leroy, Pete, Frank -- Adam Frank, great to have all of you with us. Thank you so much for that.

And still to come here, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. grilled by lawmakers on Capitol Hill. We're going to tell you what he said about the CDC's vaccination policies.

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DEAN: We do have breaking news now with the war in Iran. President Trump last hour saying he's close to making a deal with Iran, adding he himself could travel to Pakistan if the U.S. and Iran secure a truce. He also suggested the next in-person talks between the U.S. and Iran could possibly happen as early as this weekend.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If Iran wants to make a deal and we're dealing very nicely with them, we've got to have no nuclear weapons. If we do -- that's a big factor. And they're willing to do things today that they weren't willing to do two months ago. They have a new set of leaders and we find them very reasonable.

SANCHEZ: The President also said that peace talks between Israel and Lebanon could happen at the White House over the next week or two. Earlier, he announced that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to attend a ceasefire.

Let's go live now to Jerusalem with CNN's Jeremy Diamond. Jeremy, what's the latest you're learning?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, the Israeli Prime Minister tonight making the case to the Israeli public for why he has agreed to this temporary 10-day ceasefire. And he's doing so in large part because it's going to be unpopular with the Israeli public and Israeli public that has wanted Israel to continue to keep up the fight against -- against Hezbollah, to continue the bombing inside of Lebanon.

But the Prime Minister said that he saw what he described as a historic opportunity to make peace with Lebanon. And that is why he has agreed to this ceasefire in order to give space for talks that will discuss disarming Hezbollah and also establishing peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon. The -- the reality, of course, is that the Prime Minister came under relentless pressure from President Trump and the Trump administration over the course of the last week.

It initially began when Trump began pressing Netanyahu to scale back strikes. But it became clear that more was needed, more in order for the talks with Lebanon to take place, but also more in order to preserve this U.S.-Iran ceasefire agreement. And so, now we have this ceasefire agreement in Lebanon that's supposed to take effect in a matter of hours. The fire is continuing for now, though. Continued Hezbollah rocket strikes to northern Israel. We don't believe that there's been any stop in Israeli military operations in Lebanon as of yet.

But importantly, the Israeli Prime Minister also pointed out that Israeli troops will not be withdrawing from southern Lebanon. In fact, they will remain where they are right now, which is up to 10 kilometers deep inside of Lebanese territory. The Prime Minister says those troops will maintain that buffer zone even as these negotiations continue.

The question now, whether the Lebanese president will agree to meet with the Israeli Prime Minister at the White House, as President Trump has proposed, while those troops remain inside of Lebanon. So, a ceasefire, but a very delicate moment nonetheless. But one that is intended to try and carry forward the diplomacy not only between Israel and Lebanon, but also to maintain the ceasefire between the United States and Iran. Boris?

[15:25:08]

SANCHEZ: Jeremy Diamond, live for us in Jerusalem, thank you so much. So, as Israel's truce with Lebanon moves forward, the pressure to end the war and reopen traffic in the Strait of Hormuz keeps mounting. The head of the International Energy Agency today told the Associated Press that Europe has maybe six weeks left of jet fuel and that if the Strait stays blocked, airlines will be forced to cut flights.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FATIH BIROL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY: I can tell you, soon we will hear the news that some of the -- the flights from City A to City B might be canceled as a result of lack of jet fuel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: About 20 percent of the world's jet fuel supply usually moves through the Strait. Now, of that amount, this is an important piece here for Europe, 69 percent of that goes to Europe. So, let's discuss further with CNN Business Editor-at-Large Richard Quest, he's in London. He also hosts "Quest Means Business."

Of course, Richard, these cancellations, we're told, could start just as this busy summer travel season gets underway. What are you expecting?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR & EDITOR-AT-LARGE: What I'm expecting and we're already seeing is that airlines, as of now, will start to prune the schedule. And you've only got to look into the United States and look at the three U.S. majors. And you're seeing that United Airlines announced a 5 percent cut in its schedule. It's going to stop also cutting less profitable and marginal routes. Delta is going to be doing more pricing strategy. American is somewhere in the middle.

And the reason is, look, if you have got and you know that you're going to only have a limited amount of fuel available to you, you're going to pick and choose which flights you're going to make a priority. And that's what we're going to see. So, in the last 24 hours, Lufthansa Group has announced the retiring of some of its older aircraft. It's announced it's going to make various capacity moves. Air France, KLM, the same.

Expect this to happen. It's every airline in the world, simply because it's a fact of reality. If you ain't got fuel, you can't fly the planes. So, pick and choose.

DEAN: That's kind of it. Yes.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, that's a good point. Richard, how is the jet fuel issue impacting airlines in the U.S.? Is it at all?

QUEST: It will do. It will do. Everything about this crisis, the U.S. is X number of weeks, a month or two behind, because of the time it takes. Also, the U.S. is largely fuel energy self-sufficient. But it does still import and the refinery capacity in the U.S. is very much geared to certain types of oil. So yes, it will still be affected. But maybe two or three months further down the road. What's interesting is the way in which airlines like United have got ahead of this.

I mean, Scott Kirby has said that the fuel bill will go up so far by $11 billion, which is more than United has ever made in its history in one year. They are taking the opportunity to make sure that what fuel they've got goes to the most important and, yes, profitable routes. The U.S. is about, I would say, six to eight weeks behind where Europe would be. Two months behind.

DEAN: Okay. And so, to your point, Richard, our David Goldman was talking to us earlier. I thought this was really striking. He said that $0.01 increase in fuel costs -- I believe he was talking -- talking about American Airlines -- an added $50 million a year. So, $0.01 increase equals ...

QUEST: Yes.

DEAN: ... $50 million increase for an airline. How ...

QUEST: Yes.

DEAN: ... I mean, clearly, it's such a critical factor in an airline's profitability.

QUEST: Oh, completely. Which is why, as I said, the U.S. says it's $11 billion. Every airline has -- Ed Bastian of Delta's put a number on it as well. So, what are they going to do? Simple. Charge more for tickets. You won't see fuel surcharges, per se. You'll see ancillary costs. That bag, that very large bag that you want to shove in the hold, that's going to cost you more because it'll cost more to fly it. And the actual raw ticket price could go up by as much as 20 percent.

It's going to -- for some airlines, by the way, this is just catastrophic. Some of the low-cost carriers that are flying on very thin profit margins, if at all, this is catastrophic.

DEAN: Wow. All right. Richard Quest, thank you so much for that. We appreciate it.

We are also following RFK Jr.'s tense day on the Hill, what he's saying about some of his more controversial policies when we come back.

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