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National Catholic Register

‘It’s a Special Thing to Be Human’: Artemis II Crew Returns With Awe, Gratitude, and Faith

NASA-JSC
NASA’s Artemis II crew, (left to right) NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Christina Koch, mission specialist; Victor Glover, pilot; and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, share brief remarks with friends, family, and colleagues after they landed at Ellington Airport near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Saturday, April 11, 2026, after a nearly 10-day journey around the moon and back to Earth.

After traveling approximately 695,000 miles over its 10-day trip around the moon, the Artemis II crew gave powerful reflections on their experience.

Pope Leo XIV Honors 2 Spanish Nuns Murdered in Algeria in 1994

Esther Paniagua Alonso (left) and Caridad Álvarez Martín, Augustinian nuns murdered in Algeria in 1994, beatified in 2018.

The Augustinian nuns were about to enter a Catholic chapel in Algiers when they were gunned down. Pope Leo previously visited their community in 2009 when he was prior of the Order of St. Augustine.

A Pause, a Peace, and a ‘Cup of Poison’: How Wars End in Iran

Atta Kenare
A woman walks past a giant billboard reading ‘The Strait of Hormuz remains closed’ at Revolution Square in Tehran on April 12.

COMMENTARY: The Iran-Israel-United States war that began Feb. 28 is closer to the end than the beginning. But exactly how it ends remains murky.