The Crew of NASA’s Artemis II Moon Mission Reveals What They Saw on the Dark Side of the Moon

0:00 -Before we get into it, Victor, I just want to say happy birthday.

0:03 Happy 50th birthday today!

0:05 Cheers and applause] Happy birthday!

0:10 -Thank you.

0:11 Thank you.

0:12 -Happy, happy, happy.

0:13 -Can't think of a better way to spend it.

0:15 -Oh, yeah.

0:15 Good.

0:16 I'm so happy you're all here.

0:17 I'm sure you had so many emotions during this mission.

0:22 I was gonna ask you.

0:24 When were you the most nervous?

0:26 Was it— Was it takeoff?

0:27 Was it landing?

0:28 -About 30 seconds ago?

0:30 -Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

0:31 It could be that, as well.

0:33 -I mean, you know, launch.

0:34 People think of launch because they see the rocket, but it's actually, for us...

0:38 Re-entry.

0:38 Way wilder of a ride.

0:40 Yes.

0:41 -Really?

0:42 -Coming back to a planet is no joke.

0:45 You might think, "Let's land the plane." No, it is nothing like that.

0:50 You know, you're taking off, and it's just a little rumble.

0:52 You don't see anything.

0:53 You're looking around.

0:54 -You don't hear the explosions?

0:56 -Not so much.

0:57 Now, on re-entry— -They come later.

0:58 -Yes, exactly.

0:59 You come back...

1:00 -'Cause it's loud when it's here.

1:02 -It is, but in there, not so much.

1:05 You come back, you are a literal plasma ball.

1:08 And you see the fire outside every single window.

1:11 And then you're like, "So I'm in— in the flames.

1:14 Right." -It's like that far away, the fire.

1:17 -Really?

1:17 -Right there.

1:18 -Right there.

1:18 -And are you— Is it hot?

1:20 Clearly not, right?

1:20 -It gets a little warm.

1:21 -It does?

1:22 -It actually does.

1:23 -Really?

1:23 -And we have to set the stage.

1:24 Like, you're coming— We're watching the altimeter click down.

1:27 You're going 6 miles a second.

1:30 Fingers snapping] -6 miles a second.

1:32 -39 times the speed of sound.

1:34 6 miles a second, we're hitting the atmosphere.

1:36 -Are you hearing clicks?

1:37 Are you hearing something?

1:38 -No, but we're, like, talking about it.

1:39 And you're watching that number click down,

1:41 but you don't really feel that speed until you hit the atmosphere,

1:44 and then you start to slow down.

1:46 -Everyone had been to space before, right?

1:48 But Jeremy, you hadn't, right?

1:50 -No.

1:51 Yeah, yeah.

1:52 My first trip.

1:52 So I was a liability.

1:54 -Yeah.

1:54 -Not true.

1:55 -Was everyone looking at you like, "Oh, he's gonna throw up.

1:58 He's gonna throw up.

1:59 Here he goes.

2:00 Here he goes." -Yeah,

2:00 we had a lot of conversations about that in the containment plan,

2:03 but luckily I didn't need it, so that was great.

2:07 -Yeah.

2:07 Good.

2:08 Reid, you took one of the coolest pictures I could even imagine.

2:12 It's you looking at Earth.

2:14 Um, it seems unreal.

2:17 -It's incredibly emotional.

2:19 But about five seconds before that photo was taken,

2:22 I was looking at Christina, and she was taking a selfie out the window.

2:25 I was like, "What are you doing?" She's like,

2:26 "I think you should come here and look at this." And I

2:28 popped my head in the window next to her.

2:29 And that's the view.

2:31 I mean, that's all of our planet right there.

2:33 And we were lucky to have some phones with us and able to take those pictures.

2:37 -We were talking about the feelings, you know, of launch and entry,

2:40 but those feelings are impressive, and, I mean, they get your attention,

2:43 but the thing that is hard to understand is

2:45 we're constantly going away from or back to the planet,

2:48 so it's changing the whole mission.

2:49 And the view— That is really what gets you.

2:52 We would be eating or washing up, getting ready for bed and something,

2:55 and you look out the window, and you just see that Earth out there.

2:57 And it was so amazing to see.

2:59 -Around day three, we started to dub it Tiny Earth.

3:01 -Tiny Earth.

3:02 -Because it's like this big out the window.

3:04 -Tiny Earth.

3:04 Yeah.

3:05 That's Tiny Earth.

3:06 -"Oh, there's Tiny Earth." -Yeah.

3:08 And then you got to see the dark side of the moon.

3:11 I mean, you really— To the far side of the moon.

3:14 What did it feel like when you were— When did you first kind of see it?

3:17 And you go, "Guys, we're seeing it.

3:19 We're seeing something that no one's seen." -Yeah,

3:21 it actually happened earlier than we thought.

3:22 A couple of days before, we looked at the moon,

3:25 and we were like, "Oh, that looks weird." Because of the angle we had,

3:28 we were now seeing parts of the far side from a distance,

3:31 and we all were glued to the windows just to check that out.

3:34 -Reid, you had a very special moment where you

3:37 named a crater in honor of your late wife, Carol.

3:41 It was an incredibly moving gesture.

3:44 Did you always— Was that the plan?

3:46 -That was definitely not the plan,

3:48 but when you're flying in space with three of the greatest humans

3:51 you could ever fly in space with— Christina came up with that idea.

3:54 And at Kennedy Space Center before we launched,

3:56 Jeremy asked me if that was something that we should do as a crew.

4:00 That was a crew decision.

4:02 And Jeremy gave one of the most moving speeches.

4:04 And that moment was a great honor for my kids.

4:06 My kids were in Mission Control, Ellie and Katey,

4:08 when that happened, and they didn't know anything about it.

4:10 It's deeply moving for them.

4:12 But also, for the four of us, that kind of solidified us as a crew.

4:15 Like, we are— We are bonded forever.

4:18 Cheers and applause] -I have to ask.

4:25 How big is it or how small is it?

4:27 I heard it's like the size of maybe two minivans,

4:29 which is a weird comparison, but...

4:31 -Are we talking about the spacecraft?

4:33 -That's being a little gracious.

4:35 Two minivans.

4:36 -Two minivans is being gracious?

4:37 -Maybe one.

4:38 -Like, could you show me what it would like?

4:40 -One of them.

4:40 It would be very full.

4:42 -Would you guys want to...?

4:43 -Yeah.

4:44 Yeah.

4:44 -But, Jimmy...

4:44 -You have to be a part of this.

4:46 -I'm part of the mission?

4:47 -You really have to physicalize this.

4:49 -And if you're not touching, it doesn't— it's not like being in Orion.

4:52 So, yeah, you get in there.

4:53 -Okay.

4:54 You stand right there.

4:54 -Yeah.

4:55 Alright.

4:56 Um...

4:56 So just go ahead and work for the next 12 hours.

4:58 We get very busy.

4:59 -No.

5:00 This is not— -Yeah, except we have to, like,

5:02 physically be touching at all times.

5:04 All talking at once] I need to get some water!

5:06 Ike, can you— -Hey, Christina.

5:08 -Yeah.

5:08 -Is that your water?

5:09 -There you go.

5:10 That is mine.

5:10 -Can you pass me that?

5:11 -Yes.

5:11 I will pass you that.

5:13 Cheers and applause] -That's exactly what it feels like.

5:17 -No way.

5:19 -100% of the time.

5:20 -And you were all patient with each other?

5:22 -We were.

5:22 You have to be.

5:23 -You were patient?

5:24 -Yeah.

5:25 -Yeah, you spent 10 days together like that?

5:27 -Kind of had no choice.

5:28 -You really did.

5:29 -After three years of training together a lot...

5:31 -Oh, I'll say I do think we kind of surprised ourself.

5:35 Late in the mission, we were like— We gave each other a lot of grace.

5:37 -A lot of grace.

5:38 -Good for you.

5:39 Yeah.

5:39 -You're the cast of "Friends." You're the roommates together.

5:43 And I thought it'd be kind of fun if we maybe played a game.

5:45 Let's play a game of how well you get to know each other.

5:47 This is a game called Space Mates.

5:49 Here we go.

5:50 -Space Mates!

5:53 -Here we go.

5:54 So you all get— You all get these these boards right here, okay?

5:58 And I'm going to read a question,

6:00 and you'll write down who do you think the answer is,

6:02 and you're going to try to match or just see— I

6:04 just want to see who matches who has the story about it,

6:07 okay, and how well you guys know each other.

6:10 Here's the first question.

6:11 No cheating.

6:11 -No cheating.

6:13 -Who did the coolest space tricks?

6:16 'Cause I know someone had to do a flip or a thing.

6:19 Or I remember seeing a jar of Nutella floating around at one point.

6:24 Okay.

6:25 Reveal your answer.

6:27 One, two, three.

6:30 Whoa!

6:30 They're all different!

6:32 -What?!

6:32 -Jeremy, Jeremy.

6:33 -What?!

6:34 Two Jeremy's.

6:34 Two Jeremy's.

6:35 -Two Jeremy's, Victor, and a Reid.

6:37 Alright, so I think Jeremy...

6:40 -I actually— I didn't see it in real life,

6:42 but I saw it on Instagram when I got back,

6:45 and someone showed me, and Victor's just doing this, like,

6:47 little twirly thing through the cabin.

6:48 I'm like, "I must have been in the washroom." -I don't even remember that.

6:52 But I saw Reid film Jeremy doing some spinning, and I was impressed.

6:56 I was like, "I should have got that on camera." -Really?

6:58 I wrote "Jeremy" because you were a rookie.

7:01 And we got to be there when you went

7:03 to the bathroom for the first time in space.

7:05 -Exactly.

7:06 -Touché.

7:07 -No, no.

7:07 We'll cut that out.

7:08 We'll cut that out.

7:09 Don't embarrass— That's so funny.

7:12 -It's true.

7:13 -Okay.

7:13 Alright.

7:13 How about this one here?

7:15 If you were roommates on Earth, who is most likely to stay up late watching TV?

7:20 Bonus points: what would they be watching?

7:24 If you were roommates on Earth, who is most likely to stay up late watching TV?

7:28 Bonus points: what would they be watching if they were?

7:36 Yeah.

7:36 Christina, let me see.

7:40 Okay.

7:41 Oh, interesting.

7:42 Alright.

7:43 Very good.

7:43 Are you ready?

7:44 Reveal your answers in three, two, one.

7:48 Alright.

7:49 Oh, I love it!

7:51 Christina, you would watch me?

7:52 You would be watching "Jimmy Fallon"?

7:54 You win.

7:55 You're the best.

7:56 Christina, you'll be watching surfing videos.

7:58 Everyone said you, Christina.

7:59 -Yeah, I guess...

8:01 -Yeah.

8:01 What would you be watching?

8:04 -Well, gosh.

8:04 They are probably right.

8:05 Probably some kind of sports videos.

8:07 Yeah.

8:08 Surfing videos.

8:09 I was definitely the latest night owl in space.

8:11 -You were?

8:12 And you wrote "Jeremy" and he would be watching hockey?

8:15 -Well, you know, he's Canadian.

8:16 -He's Canadian.

8:17 Yeah.

8:18 -She's just trying to protect my reputation,

8:20 which— The funny thing is, she knows it's a lie.

8:23 -Yeah, yeah.

8:23 Perfect.

8:24 -She sticks up for me.

8:26 -Alright.

8:26 How about this one?

8:27 Whose hair looked best in space?

8:29 -Oh.

8:30 That's easy.

8:32 Laughter] -I'm sorry about that.

8:35 I'm sorry.

8:36 I'm s— I'm sorry.

8:37 I didn't even think.

8:38 I didn't— I'm so sorry.

8:40 I didn't even think.

8:42 Laughter] -Okay.

8:43 -This is a— This is— This question's kind of a bust.

8:46 I think everyone should probably have— hopefully have

8:48 the— I might even write the answer down.

8:50 -We're going 4 for 4 on this one.

8:51 -Alright.

8:52 Three, two, one.

8:54 Victor!

8:54 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

8:57 Laughter][ Cheers and applause] Consistent.

9:02 Yeah.

9:03 You know what's up, James?

9:05 Yeah.

9:05 James knows what's up.

9:06 Yeah.

9:06 That's good.

9:07 Yeah.

9:07 Alright.

9:08 Good.

9:08 Very good.

9:09 Consistent.

9:10 -I can't believe you wrote it for yourself.

9:12 -For this last one, how about this?

9:14 For this last one, if two of you match with the right answers,

9:18 since our logo, the "Tonight Show" logo, is the moon...

9:21 That's why I'm so psyched you're here.

9:23 If you have two of the correct answers, everyone here will go home with a pint

9:28 of Ben and Jerry's Tonight Dough ice cream.

9:30 -Ohh!

9:30 Cheers and applause] -So the pressure's on.

9:33 Cheers and applause] The pressure's on you guys.

9:36 Cheers and applause] Alright.

9:38 Here is the question.

9:41 Cheers and applause] Who...

9:48 Who...

9:51 Who missed Earth the most?

9:54 -Ooh.

9:59 -You can't cheat.

10:07 -Alright.

10:07 Are you ready for your answers?

10:10 On the count of three.

10:13 One, two, three.

10:16 Laughter][ Cheers and applause]♪♪ That's perfect!

10:23 That's perfect!

10:24 That is perfect!

10:26 Everyone goes home with some ice cream!

10:29 Oh.

10:30 I was wondering.

10:32 Since you guys are great Space Mates,

10:35 you guys mind autographing my copy of "Dark Side

10:37 of the Moon," one of the greatest albums from Pink Floyd?

10:40 Would you mind autographing this for me?

10:42 -Sure.

10:42 -Thank you so much.

10:43 Oh, my gosh.

10:44 I am honored to have you here.

10:46 The crew of NASA's Artemis II moon mission!

10:50 We'll be right back with more "Tonight Show." Come on back, everybody.