Christina Koch reunites with dog after historic Artemis II mission
Artemis II astronaut Christina Koch is back on Earth and back with her dog after a historic 10-day mission around the moon.
Koch shared a heartfelt video on Instagram capturing the moment she returned home, where her dog Sadie was eagerly awaiting her arrival.
In the video, the pup can be seen barking and wagging her tail, jumping up to scratch at the door lite as Koch approaches from outside.
As soon as the door opens, Sadie jumps up to greet Koch before darting off to grab a toy, bounding back toward Koch with her tail still wagging.
"I'm still pretty sure I was the happier side of this reunion," Koch wrote in the caption.
In another clip in the Instagram post, Koch and Sadie are seen running along a beach together, soaking in their long-awaited reunion.
"Sadie taught me everything I needed to know about being an emotional support animal," Koch continued in the caption. "Didn't expect that would come in handy."
The emotional reunion comes just days after the Artemis II crew safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, marking a major milestone in NASA's return to lunar exploration.
Koch, who served as a mission specialist for Artemis II, also made history as the first woman to travel around the moon.
During the mission, the crew flew farther into space than past lunar explorers, capturing rare views of the moon's far side and witnessing a total solar eclipse. At their farthest point, they reached about 252,756 miles from Earth, surpassing Apollo 13's distance record, according to NASA.
The mission also captured an "Earthset" image, showing Earth dipping behind the moon, echoing the iconic "Earthrise" photo from Apollo 8.
"Honestly, what struck me wasn't necessarily just Earth, it was all the blackness around it. Earth was just this lifeboat hanging undisturbedly in the universe," Koch said following her return from space. "Planet Earth, you are a crew."
