The American space agency NASA has announced the names of four astronauts who will be part of the first mission to the moon in 50 years. Christina Koch will become the first female astronaut to travel to the moon, while Victor Glover will be the first black astronaut to do so. They will be accompanied by Reid Wiseman and Jeremy Hansen, and the four astronauts will fly in a lunar capsule (spacecraft) around the moon in early 2025, as part of the mission. Although the mission does not include landing on the moon, its objective is to make it easier for future astronauts to land on the moon in the coming years.
NASA announced this name during a public ceremony in Houston, Texas, USA. Three American and one Canadian citizen are participating in this mission.
Now begins the rigorous training phase for these astronauts, in which they will be prepared for this mission. NASA says that the goal of selecting women and non-white individuals is to make space exploration more diverse. Previous projects to go to the moon only selected white personnel.
Red Wiesman (age 47): A pilot in the US Navy who was the head of astronauts at NASA for a period of time. Prior to this, he had already completed a space mission to the International Space Station in 2015.
Victor Glover (age 46): A test pilot in the US Navy. He joined NASA in 2013 and filled the first African-American astronaut to fly on a long-duration mission to the Space Station for six months in 2020.
Christina Koch (age 44): An electrical engineer. She spent 328 consecutive days in space, setting the record for the longest time spent in space by a woman. In October 2019, the first all-female spacewalk was performed, in which Christina was accompanied by NASA astronaut Jessica Meir.
Jeremy Hansen (age 47): Before joining the Canadian Space Agency, he was a fighter pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force. This will be his first flight into space.
NASA member Bill Nelson announced during the event that "The Artemis II mission represents a crew of thousands of people who are working hard to take us to the stars. This is their mission, our mission, and the mission of all humanity."
"NASA's astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen each have their own stories, but together they represent our belief in a new era of space exploration for dreamers and stargazers, what we call the Artemis Generation."
"Wiseman will be the mission commander, Glover will be the pilot, while Koch and Hansen will serve as mission specialists."
"These four astronauts will repeat the 1968 Apollo 8 mission, which was the first successful mission to reach the moon. They took a special image of the earth rising from the darkness towards the light."
"But this time, NASA will use 21st-century technology developed under the Artemis program. Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology.
Last year, NASA conducted a test of a new rocket that would be used to travel to the moon, called the Space Launch System. The capsule attached to it, which will carry the crew, is called Orion.
The Artemis One mission orbited the moon for 25 days after launching from Earth, but there was no crew on board. Engineers used this mission to evaluate the performance of these new tools.
Now, the Artemis Two mission, with astronauts on board, will begin its journey to Orion. It will take them about 10 days to reach the moon and return.
In December 1972, humans last traveled to the moon through the Apollo 17 mission. Astronauts first landed on the moon in 1969.
In the new era, the first mission to land on the moon, Artemis Three, will not be possible for at least 12 months after Artemis Two.
NASA currently does not have a system that can land astronauts on the surface of the moon. Elon Musk's company, SpaceX, is developing one called Starship. Its test flight will take place in the coming weeks.
Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA's Johnson Space Flight Center, says that in this mission, "the first woman, the first non-African American person, and the first Canadian will embark on a lunar mission. All four astronauts will represent humanity's best ideals through this beneficial research."
"This will expand space exploration and create new opportunities for scientific discoveries, commercial, industrial, and literary partnerships, and for the Artemis generation.
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