It seems like the 10-day Artemis II lunar flyby mission was pretty ruff for one astronaut’s dog.
On Sunday, mission specialist Christina Koch published a video on Instagram of how her dog, Sadie, reacted when she returned home from her record-setting 694,481-mile lunar flyby.
It’s safe to say Sadie was over the moon.
Screenshot Christina Koch via Instagram/Getty
In the video, Sadie peeks through a front door window and excitedly wags her tail as she realizes that Koch is standing on the porch. When Koch opens the door, Sadie jumps for joy and gets what some would call “a case of the zoomies.” The delighted dog eventually dashes back into the living room, retrieves a toy and brings it to Koch for more celebration:
Koch’s post also featured a second video showing her and Sadie frolicking on a beach.
“In order: 🌍 🤗 🐕🏖️,” Koch wrote in the caption. “I’m still pretty sure I was the happier side of this reunion. Sadie taught me everything I needed to know about being an emotional support animal. Didn’t expect that would come in handy.”
The crew of the Artemis II mission, which included Koch, commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and Canadian mission specialist Jeremy Hansen, splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Friday, capping the first voyage by humans to the moon in over half a century.
Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images
During a press conference in Houston, Koch spoke about the importance of support from her crew and the difference between a team and a crew.
“A crew is … a group that is in it all the time, no matter what, that is stroking together every minute, with the same purpose, that is willing to sacrifice silently for each other, that gives grace, that holds accountable,” Koch said. “A crew has the same cares and the same needs, and a crew is inescapably, beautifully, dutifully linked.”
Koch also offered her thoughts on seeing Earth from space.
“When we saw tiny Earth, people asked our crew what impressions we had. And honestly, what struck me wasn’t necessarily just Earth — it was all the blackness around it. Earth was just this lifeboat hanging undisturbingly in the universe,” she said. “I know I haven’t learned everything that this journey has yet to teach me, but there’s one new thing I know, and that is, Planet Earth, you are a crew.”
