NASA Names Eager Artemis II Crew Of Four

HOUSTON—The first astronauts selected to travel to the Moon in more than a half century aboard NASA’s Artemis II mission are NASA’s Reid Wiseman, who will command; Victor Glover, who will pilot; Christina Koch, a mission specialist; and the Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) Jeremy Hansen, also a mission specialist.

Their names were unveiled by officials from NASA and the CSA in April 3 ceremonies at NASA Johnson Space Center facilities at nearby Ellington Airport here.

Their launch on the planned 10-day Artemis II mission from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard an Orion capsule atop a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is planned for late 2024. They will perform two orbits of the Earth to check out the spacecraft for a translunar injection maneuver that will place them on a free return trajectory around the Moon, taking them as far as 230,000 mi. from Earth (and 6,400 mi. beyond the Moon’s far side) before they return for a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast.

“We set out to prove the hardware was ready, that SLS was prepared to launch our astronauts and Orion was equipped to carry them to the Moon and back safely,” said Norm Knight, the director of NASA’s flight operations directorate, of the Artemis I mission that paved the way during a 25 1/2-day test flight of the hardware over November and December. “Artemis I was a resounding success. Artemis II will leverage that by putting humans in the loop, executing operations in the critical path leading to new footprints on the lunar surface.”

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson joined the introductions with Pam Melroy, NASA’s deputy administrator and a former astronaut, and Bob Cabana, NASA’s associate administrator and also a former astronaut.

“Artemis II is a mission that is significant in many ways,” said Nelson, who stressed its potential to contribute to global synergy, scientific discovery and economic growth.

“It’s a demonstration of our ability to push the bounds of human achievement. It’s a testament to the unwavering passion of the team that will make it possible and it’s a message to the world that we choose to go back to the Moon, then on to Mars,” Nelson said. “And we are going to do it together because in the 21st century NASA explores the cosmos with international partners. We will unlock new knowledge and understanding.”

Wiseman is a U.S. Navy captain, test pilot and systems engineer who was selected by NASA for astronaut training in 2009. He is the veteran of a 165-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS) from May to November of 2014. He served as NASA’s chief astronaut from Dec. 17, 2020, to Nov. 14, 2022.

Glover, also a U.S. Navy captain, test pilot and systems engineer, was selected by NASA for astronaut training in 2013. He logged 168 days aboard the ISS from November 2020 to May 2021, and served as the pilot aboard the SpaceX Crew-1 Dragon mission that transported a crew of four to and from the ISS.

Koch is an electrical engineer who was selected by NASA for astronaut training in 2013. Her first trip to space, a 328-day mission to the ISS from May 2019 to February 2020, is the longest spaceflight by a woman. She has conducted six spacewalks, including the first three all-female excursions.

Hansen is a colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces and a former fighter pilot. Artemis II will be his first trip to space.

NASA’s Artemis II flyers were selected from 41 active members of the agency’s astronaut corps, 25 males and 16 women. The CSA’s flyer was selected from the four active members of its astronaut corps, three men and one woman. Knight and Joe Acaba, NASA’s chief astronaut, led the selection process, with oversight from NASA’s Vanessa Wyche, director of Johnson Space Center.

Each of the Artemis II crewmembers hailed the opportunity before a crowd of several hundred NASA co-workers, schoolchildren and commercial Artemis team members.

“This is a big day,” Glover said. “We have a lot to celebrate, and there is so much more than the four names that have been announced. We need to celebrate this moment in human history. Artemis II is more than a mission to the Moon and back. It’s more than a mission ... that has to happen before we send people to the surface of the Moon. It’s the next step on the journey that gets humanity to Mars.”

Canadian participation in the Artemis II mission was established with the December 2000 signing of the Gateway Treaty, in which Canada agreed to provide the NASA-led assembly of the lunar-orbiting Gateway outpost with a third version of its robot arm, an upgrade of previous versions flown on the ISS and space shuttle, as well as robotic interfaces for external science payloads.

Gateway, whose assembly is planned to begin no earlier than November 2024, will host astronauts launched on Artemis missions. Once docked, the astronauts are to transfer to a commercially provided Human Landing System to be transported to and from the lunar surface.

The last human mission to the Moon was Apollo 17, flown from Dec.7 to Dec. 19, 1972. Two of the three former astronauts, Harrison Schmitt and the late Gene Cernan, were the last humans to walk on the Moon, and along with the late Ron Evans the last to circle the Moon. Apollo 8, flown from Dec. 21 to Dec. 27, 1968, was the first to send humans around the Moon. They were former NASA astronauts Frank Borman, Bill Anders and Jim Lovett.

Artemis II builds on the flight test success of Artemis I, the uncrewed, 25 1/2-day, 1.4 million-mi. initial integrated test flight of the SLS and Orion capsule. It concluded with a parachute-assisted splashdown and recovery of Orion in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja, California, on Dec.11. This provided NASA and its contractor team with data on Orion’s performance in deep space and the heat shield during the high-temperature descent into the Earth’s atmosphere.

NASA is currently looking to December 2025 for the launch of Artemis III, the first post-Apollo era mission to return human explorers to the Moon’s surface at the lunar south pole.