NASA Announces 4 Astronauts Names for the Next Moon Mission

https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-ii/

NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) have announced the names of the four astronauts who will fly around the Moon on Artemis II, the first crewed mission of the Artemis program.

The mission, scheduled for November 2024, will be a historic milestone for human space exploration, as it will mark the first time humans have ventured beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972.

The four astronauts who will make history are:

– Reid Wiseman, commander of Artemis II. Wiseman was a veteran of one spaceflight, having spent 165 days on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2014. He also performed two spacewalks during his stay. Wiseman is a former naval aviator and test pilot with a master’s degree in systems engineering from Johns Hopkins University.

– Victor Glover, pilot of Artemis II. Glover is also a veteran of one spaceflight, having spent 167 days on the ISS as part of Expedition 64/65 from 2020 to 2021. He performed four spacewalks during his mission, becoming the first African American to do so. Glover is a former naval aviator and test pilot with a master’s degree in military operational art and science from Air University.

– Christina Hammock Koch, mission specialist 1 of Artemis II. Koch holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, having spent 328 days on the ISS from 2019 to 2020. She also performed six spacewalks during her mission, including the first all-female spacewalk with Jessica Meir. Koch, an electrical engineer, and physicist has worked as a research associate at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and as a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration station chief.

– Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist 2 of Artemis II. Hansen will be the second Canadian to fly around the Moon, after David Saint-Jacques, who passed on Apollo 17. Hansen is a former Royal Canadian Air Force fighter and test pilot with a master’s degree in physics from the Royal Military College of Canada. He has been an astronaut since 2009 but has not flown to space yet.

Artemis II Astronaut Announcement:

The Artemis II mission will launch on NASA’s powerful Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The crew will fly around the Moon for about ten days, testing Orion’s life-support systems and capabilities for deep space exploration. The mission will also set the stage for Artemis III, which will land the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface in 2025.

The Artemis program aims to establish a long-term presence on the Moon for science and exploration, paving the way for future missions to Mars. The program is named after the Greek goddess of the Moon and the twin sister of Apollo, honoring the legacy of the Apollo program and celebrating the diversity and inclusion of the new generation of explorers.

We congratulate these four astronauts for being selected for this historic mission, and we look forward to following their journey around our nearest celestial neighbor.