A child speaking to CNN in a video that aired Wednesday went viral for his excited response about the Artemis II launch.
The video, according to CNN, was from Tuesday, ahead of the launch, but aired during the outlet’s coverage on Wednesday. A reporter asked the child, “Why do you want to be here? Why do you love space? Why do you love being a part of history?”
The child responded, “We‘re going back to the fricking moon. That‘s why!”
The response was hailed across social media and even got a response from NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who wrote on X that the child was “definitely getting a bag of NASA gear.”
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Rep. Addison McDowell, R-N.C., wrote, “Automatic GOAT status!”
Scott Kupor, the director of the United States Office of Personnel Management, said NASA’s communications department should hire the young man.
“I like this kid,” Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy wrote.
The Artemis II crew blasted off aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft on a mission around the moon on Wednesday — the first crewed journey beyond low-Earth orbit in more than 50 years.
Astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch of the U.S., and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency, boarded the 322-foot Orion spacecraft at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B on Wednesday afternoon, just hours before launching at 6:35 p.m.
The Artemis II crew is expected to travel around the moon and back, marking the first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since 1972.
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Steven Taranto, a NASCAR writer for CBS Sports, wrote in reaction to the viral clip, “Being an American is rad as hell.”
“The next generation is in good hands,” John Ondrasik of Five For Fighting wrote.
Others called the child a “legend” over his excitement.
Another video making the rounds on X showed a child, speaking to CBS News, also expressing his excitement about the launch while wearing an astronaut suit.
The kid, Jack, told CBS News that he is “obsessed with space.”
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“I will see the rocket launch into space, because I’m so obsessed with space, so I’ll see the rocket launch from ground to sky, so it’ll be totally exciting,” the boy said.
Fox News’ Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
