Jared Isaacman, Nasa’s Administrator has been speaking from the USS John P Murtha, which will soon pick up the crew.
“It’s a huge moment for everybody,” he said. “We are back in the business of sending astronauts to the Moon, bringing them back safely and to set up for a series more.
“I mean, this is not a once in a lifetime thing. No, it’s not. This is just the beginning. We are going to get back into doing this with frequency, sending missions to the Moon until we land on it in 2028 and start building our base.
“Are we going to build on the momentum for Artemis III, I mean, it’s just around the corner, absolutely.
“I can’t wait to get the crew off Integrity, but also getting Integriy back on this ship so we can start taking a look at it because all that data is so precious to us right now.
“We are going to definitely want to take a good look at the thermal protection system, we’re going to want to download all the data they couldn’t transmit back to us and use that to inform Artemis III.”
The Nasa administrator was confirmed to the role fairly recently, in December 2025.
Donald Trump withdrew Mr Isaacman’s original nomination in May that year, suggesting he had ties to Democrats and expressing scepticism over his apparent close relationship with Elon Musk.
The US president renominated Mr Isaacman on November 4, 2025.