“For once I might be speechless,” she says, before paying tribute to her team’s hard work. “This is your moment,” he says – to applause. “You’ve earned your place in history,” Blackwell-Thompson continues. He describes the mission as the first step in humanity’s return to the Moon – and a subsequent visit to Mars. She thanks her peers for their “endurance” after two clean launches. In Nasa tradition, she asks a colleague to cut her tie.
