Livingston, Mont. — Artemis II has successfully splashed down from outer space back earth. The mission was a nine-day expedition, where the manned spacecraft successfully orbited the moon.  

Among the four-person crew on the Orion spacecraft was Livingston, MT resident, Christina Koch.  

With the Artemis II returning to earth around 6:00p.m. off the coast of California, residents in Livingston say they were excited to see Koch return safely with the Artemis II crew.  

“And I have no idea that she was from Montana. It’s pretty rare to see Montanans and national news, maybe especially people from Livingston” said Livingston Resident Nolan Verrell.  

“I think the same. I’m excited to see where folks are”, another Livingston Resident, Maisie Evans said.  

Koch once lived in Livingston and was part of the four-astronaut team on the mission.  

Her role on the team was that of a mission specialist, responsible for mission operations, performing scientific experiments onboard Artemis II, and supporting the objectives of the mission.  

The crew included commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Jeremy Hansen and Christina Koch.  

In a recent interview, Koch gave a look at daily life inside the spacecraft.  

“We are bumping into each other 100% of the time. A phrase that you often hear in the cabin is, don’t move your foot, I’m just going to reach for something right under it, or You know, uh, can I get there? And my goal is to get over there, and we’re constantly moving around, um, whether it’s to complete a task, to just eat, um, you know, to, to look out the window, to take a picture. Everything we do in here is a four-person activity. But it’s also really fun,” Koch said.  

That close environment was part of what Koch described as the team carried out tasks, ate, and moved through the cabin together during the mission. 

If you are interested in learning more about the Artemis II mission and Livingston resident Christina Koch, you can find that information at nasa.gov.