“NASA names the first African American and first woman astronaut ever assigned as astronauts on a lunar mission.”
is also a decorated fighter pilot. Victor Glover, 46, served as an engineer on the mission Crew-1, the first operational mission to the international space station that SpaceX flew for NASA. Glover will also be the first African-American lunar astronaut. Christina Koch, 44, spent 328 days on board the international space station setting the record for the longest single space flight for a woman and completing the historical first all female spacewalk along with American astronaut Anne McClain. Koch will also be the first female lunar astronaut. Jeremy Hansen, 47, is a Canadian astronaut from Ontario. He became an astronaut in 2011, and Artemis II will be the first mission he flies. Hansen will also be the first-ever Canadian astronaut to fly to the moon.
For the first time in more than half a century, NASA is sending astronauts back to the moon. On April 3rd, 2023, NASA announced the crew heading to the moon in 2024. Humans have not traveled more than a few hundred miles off the planet since Apollo 17, NASA’s last lunar mission in 1972. All of the astronauts selected for the Apollo program were Americans, and all were white men. In the next year’s mission to the moon, NASA named the first African-American and first women astronaut ever assigned on a lunar mission. The Artemis II crew is comprised of Reid Wiseman, the mission’s commander, Victor Glover, the pilot, Christina Koch, the mission specialist, and Jeremy Hansen, who is also a mission specialist. The crew are all seasoned astronauts. Reid Wiseman, 47, served as flight commander for Expedition 41 in 2014 when he stayed on board the International Space Station for 165 days. He
This mission is a huge step in NASA’s Artemis program, which plans to eventually send astronauts back to the moon’s surface near the moon’s south pole. Artemis II will be the second in NASA’s Artemis program. Artemis I launched last November; it was an uncrewed test of the Space Launch System, NASA’s next huge rocket, and the Orion astronaut capsule. Although the crew is heading to the moon, they are not landing on it. The travelers will take a 10-day journey that swings around the moon and returns to Earth. The purpose of Artemis II is to collect valuable flight test data and test life support systems for future missions to the moon and beyond. The mission will also test NASA’s ability to have humans live and work in space. Artemis II is scheduled to blast off in November 2024.