The astronauts who will fly over the Moon

NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) have announced the four astronauts who will undertake a space journey that will include flying over the Moon.

This will be the first crewed mission on NASA’s path to establishing a lasting presence on the Moon for science and exploration through the Artemis program.

The four astronauts are as follows: Reid Wiseman as mission commander, Victor Glover as pilot, as well as Christina Hammock Koch and Jeremy Hansen as mission specialists. The first three are American; the fourth, Canadian.

All of them will work as a team to execute an ambitious set of demonstrations during this flight test.

The Artemis 2 mission, which will last about 10 days, will begin with the launch of an Orion spacecraft aboard NASA’s powerful SLS (Space Launch System) rocket. The mission aims to test the life support systems of the Orion spacecraft in real conditions and validate the capabilities and techniques necessary for future astronauts to be able to live and work in deep space.

The flight will lay the groundwork for the arrival of the first woman and first person of color on the surface of the Moon through the Artemis program, paving the way for future long-term human exploration missions to the Moon and, beyond, to the Moon. Mars.

For the first time in 50 years, these people, the crew of the Artemis 2 mission, will be the first humans to travel to the Moon. The crew includes the first woman, the first person of color and the first Canadian person to go on a lunar mission.

NASA’s Artemis 2 mission crew (left to right): NASA astronauts Christina Hammock Koch, Reid Wiseman (seated), and Victor Glover, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. (Photo: NASA)

This will be Wiseman’s second trip to space, after previously serving as a flight engineer aboard the International Space Station for Expedition 41, from May to November 2014. Wiseman has logged more than 165 days in space, including nearly 13 hours as head of spacewalks during two extravehicular sorties in the orbital complex. Prior to his appointment, Wiseman served as Chief of the Astronaut Office from December 2020 to November 2022.

This mission will be the second spaceflight for Glover, who previously served as a pilot on NASA’s SpaceX Crew 1 mission, which landed on May 2, 2021, after 168 days in space. As a flight engineer aboard the space station for Expedition 64, Glover contributed to scientific investigations and technology demonstrations, and participated in four spacewalks.

Koch will also make her second flight into space on the Artemis 2 mission. She served as a flight engineer aboard the space station for Expeditions 59, 60, and 61. Koch set a record for the longest individual spaceflight by a woman, with a total of 328 days in space, and participated in the first all-female spacewalks.

Representing Canada, this will be Hansen’s first flight into space. A colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces and former fighter pilot, Hansen has a BS in space sciences from the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario, and an MS in physics from the same institution in 2000, with a specialization in the field of satellite tracking. He was one of two recruits selected by the CSA (Canadian Space Agency) in May 2009 through the third Canadian Astronaut Recruitment Campaign; has worked as a Capsule Communicator (Capcom) at NASA Mission Control Center at the Johnson Center and, in 2017, became the first Canadian to hold a NASA Astronaut Chair, directing the training of astronaut candidates from the United States and Canada. (Source: NASA)