'It just made it even more special': Being so far from Earth makes you appreciate our planet even more, Artemis 2 astronaut says

Then she described the difference, as Meir requested.

"The thing that changed for me looking back at Earth was that I found myself noticing not only the beauty of the Earth, but how much blackness there was around it, and how it just made it even more special," Koch said.

"It truly emphasized how alike we are, how the same thing keeps every single person on planet Earth alive," she added. "We evolved on the same planet, we have some shared things about how we love and live that are just universal, and the specialness and preciousness of that really is emphasized when you notice how much else there is around it."

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Earth sets at 6:41 p.m. EDT, April 6, 2026, over the moon's curved limb in this photo captured by the Artemis 2 crew during their journey around the far side of the moon. (Image credit: NASA)

All four Artemis 2 crewmates — Koch, fellow NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover, and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency — took part in the 15-minute call.

On the ISS, Meir shared the microphone with NASA's Chris Williams and Jack Hathaway, and Sophie Adenot of the European Space Agency. The three cosmonauts currently living on the orbiting lab — Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, Sergei Mikaev and Andrey Fedyaev — did not participate.

Adenot asked the Artemis 2 astronauts what has surprised them during their mission so far.

"I don't mean to give you such a short answer, but I can truly say 'everything,'" Glover replied.

He cited many of the mission's major milestones, from its April 1 liftoff atop a Space Launch System rocket to its maneuvers in Earth orbit to its journey to, and flyby of, the moon.

"This entire journey has been interesting," Glover said.

Artemis 2 — the first crewed mission beyond Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972 — is now headed back to Earth. The four astronauts will get here on Friday (April 10), splashing down that evening off the coast of San Diego.

NASA will then start gearing up for Artemis 3, which will test docking and rendezvous technologies in Earth orbit in 2027. After that will come Artemis 4, which aims to land astronauts near the moon's south pole in late 2028.