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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.

\"Artemis
Danielle Villasana/Getty Images
Artemis II Mission Specialist Christina Koch reacts during a press conference on April 11, 2026 in Houston, Texas.
>

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.\"

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