‘Ambassadors of the Cosmos’ arrive at the United Nations | Artemis II | United Nations

Back from a mission to the moon, astronauts from Artemis II arrived at United Nations Headquarters with a message for humanity about our shared purpose on Earth.

A month after completing their historic flyby of the Moon, the astronauts from NASA’s Artemis II mission landed at UN Headquarters in New York this week with a message that sounded like a reminder: humanity is capable of extraordinary things when it acts together.

Their visit on Thursday followed a long-standing tradition – cosmonauts and astronauts have been coming to the UN for decades to speak about peace, international cooperation, and our shared global future.

The four-person crew carried out the farthest human spaceflight in history, travelling beyond the far side of the Moon and safely returning to Earth after 10 intense, demanding, and inspiring days.

In that short time, as noted during the event, they “captured the imagination of billions” and rekindled a sense of shared human participation in the exploration of space.

Tradition and continuity
The General Assembly building has long welcomed pioneers of the space age, starting with Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova – the first man and woman in space.

Their October 1963 visit symbolised not only technological progress but also the idea that cosmos is a domain where humanity can be united.

Since then, representatives of many nations have repeatedly addressed the international community, emphasising that space exploration is impossible without cooperation and shared responsibility.

Artemis II continues that legacy. The mission represents not only a technological breakthrough but also a model of international partnership, involving multiple countries and institutions, including the European Space Agency, with scientific instruments and systems developed by specialists from around the world.

“I had the opportunity to talk to everyone on the way here – I mean to these three pretty normal but pretty overachieving Americans and a Canadian,” said US Ambassador Mike Waltz, who hosted the evening discussion in front of an invited audience of excited earthlings with the astronauts.

The crew stressed that their task was not only to test a spacecraft, but also to remind people on the ground that humanity can achieve great things when it works together.

Earth from deep space
For all the astronauts, the most powerful experience was seeing Earth from deep space.

From hundreds of thousands of miles away, the planet appeared small, fragile, almost weightless against the vast darkness - an image that underscored both Earth’s uniqueness and the rarity of life itself.

“I always felt urged to just be grateful for what we were seeing and to be grateful for what we were eventually going back to,” said pilot Victor Glover.

Astronaut Christina Koch described a sudden awareness of humanity’s scale within the boundless universe.

“You realize that actually there’s nothing absolute or guaranteed about this, and that actually there is such thing as a global scale…this scale is our world and what we do with it is our choice.”

Read More: https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/05/1167427