NASA Artemis II astronaut realized what he was really afraid of when doing his spacewalk

Artemis II astronaut Reid Wiseman revealed the thing that actually scares him, and it all comes down to one force.

Reid and his three fellow crew members — Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen — will be re-entering Earth’s atmosphere later today at around 25,000mph, as they complete their mission of flying around the Moon and witnessing its far side.

Following the launch of Artemis II on April 1, Reid became the first person to command a lunar mission since Gene Cernan on Apollo 17 and, along with the crew, he became one of the four humans that have traveled the farthest from Earth.

With the crew now preparing to land back on Earth today (April 10) which is said to be the most dangerous part of the mission due to speeds the Orion capsule will travel as it travels through Earth’s extremely hot atmosphere, you may think astronauts like Reid are fearless.

Three years ago, NASA announced Reid as the the commander of the Artemis II mission and following the news, he shed light on what astronauts are really like. “None of us are these crazy, hair-on-fire test pilots of the 1950s that you read about,” he told Mashable. “We are calculated. We will not fly this vehicle until NASA engineering and the industry partners are ready for us to fly. We will know everything we can about the systems. We will have trained in every possible failure mode.”

He had been to space before, serving as a flight engineer at the International Space Station in 2014 where he spent 164 days. He went on two spacewalks and it seems to have helped him realize what scares him.

In October 2014 he posted: “While #spacewalking I realized something: I used to think I was scared of heights but now I know I was just scared of gravity.”

Put this on a t-shirt immediately.

We’ll be able to hear more of Reid’s thoughts on space once the team completes their re-entry.

The capsule is due to splashdown just after 8pm EST in the waters off San Diego, Artemis II crew will have brought back with them some essential information about their health, which could lead to a breakthrough in space health and safety advancements.

What happens next after splashdown?

Getting the astronauts out of the Orion

Helping Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen safely out of the Orion spacecraft falls to NASA and the Department of War.

Once they land back on Earth, a team of four helicopters will circle the spacecraft - two for rescue, the other two for pictures, according to Florida Today.

One of them will lower a stabilizing collar, which will keep the Orion floating the right way up.

Then, once they’re ready, a basket will be sent down to lift the first astronaut up.

They’ll all be taken to a nearby naval vessel, the USS John P. Murtha, for a medical checkup, and then transported back to Houston.

What effect will 10 days in space have had on the astronauts’ bodies?

Even though the Artemis II crew have spent a relatively short time in space - poor Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore spent 608 days away from Earth over 2024 and 2025, remember - it will still have had an effect on their bodies.

Kevin Fong, founder of the Centre for Altitude, Space and Extreme Environment Medicine at University College London, told the BBC: “In some experiments with rats, they’ve seen up to a third of muscle from particular muscle groups being lost within seven to 10 days of flight – that’s a huge, huge loss.”

To try and combat muscle loss, the Artemis II team have incorporated workouts into their schedule, on something called a flywheel.

Since the Orion capsule is only 316 cubic feet, about the size of a smallish bedroom according to NPR, workout gear needs to be compact. The flywheel is a bit like a multi-purpose rowing machine.

Jeremy Hansen explained before launch: “We can change the dynamics of this device so that we can do weightlifting with it. So we can do squats. We can do dead lifts. We can do curls. We can do high pulls.”

What have other astronauts said about readjusting to life on Earth?

NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, who returned to Earth in 2024 after 200 days in space, said: “With eyes closed, it was almost impossible to walk in a straight line.”

That’s because the inner-ear balance humans use to orient themselves on Earth is effectively tuned out when they are in space.

ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen, who was on the same mission, said: “I felt wobbly for the first two days. My neck was very tired from holding up my head.”

While NASA’s Jeanette Epps, who spent 235 days in space and returned in October 2024, said the main thing that took some getting used to was the heaviness of Earth.

She said: “You have to move and exercise every day, regardless of how exhausted you feel.”

Since the Orion capsule is only 316 cubic feet, about the size of a smallish bedroom according to NPR, workout gear needs to be compact. The flywheel is a bit like a multi-purpose rowing machine.

Jeremy Hansen explained before launch: “We can change the dynamics of this device so that we can do weightlifting with it. So we can do squats. We can do dead lifts. We can do curls. We can do high pulls.”

What have other astronauts said about readjusting to life on Earth?

NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, who returned to Earth in 2024 after 200 days in space, said: “With eyes closed, it was almost impossible to walk in a straight line.”

That’s because the inner-ear balance humans use to orient themselves on Earth is effectively tuned out when they are in space.

ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen, who was on the same mission, said: “I felt wobbly for the first two days. My neck was very tired from holding up my head.”

While NASA’s Jeanette Epps, who spent 235 days in space and returned in October 2024, said the main thing that took some getting used to was the heaviness of Earth.

She said: “You have to move and exercise every day, regardless of how exhausted you feel.”