HOUSTON — NASA has named a crew of first astronauts to the Moon in over 50 years.
On Monday (April 3), the space agency announced four astronauts to launch on the Artemis 2 mission to orbit the Moon. The crew will be the first lunar voyagers since the Apollo program.
Artemis 2’s crew includes Commander Reed Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. Hansen is a Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut, flying under an agreement between the United States and Canada. He becomes the first non-American to leave Earth orbit and fly to the moon.
The Artemis 2 crew was unveiled Monday during an event held at Ellington Field, home of NASA’s aircraft operations, near the Johnson Space Center here in Houston. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and other agency leaders attended the event with nearly the entire active-duty astronaut squad, except for his three currently on board the International Space Station (ISS). .
“Reed, Victor, Christina, Jeremy, these adventurers each have their own stories to tell. But together, they represent our credo. One out of many.” said Nelson. “Together, we usher in a new era of exploration for a new generation of star sailors and dreamers: the Artemis generation.”
Targeting a late 2024 launch, Weisman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen take off from Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft atop a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. It will be the first time that both the capsule and booster will carry astronauts on board, and his second time both vehicles will be launched together after the unmanned Artemis 1 test flight in 2022.
The 10-day Artemis 2 mission will follow a hybrid free-return trajectory instead of orbiting or landing on the moon. Using a European-manufactured service module, Orion will perform multiple maneuvers to raise its orbit around the Earth, eventually placing the crew in a free-return orbit on the Moon. In this orbit, Earth’s gravity naturally pulls the spacecraft back after flying by the moon.
Before leaving Earth orbit for the Moon, the crew will use the SLS upper stage (called the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS)) as a target for close-in maneuvers to test Orion’s ability to fly manually.
The crew will also test the spacecraft’s life support, communications and navigation systems before heading to the moon. The Artemis 2 crew will arrive within 6,479 miles (10,427 km) of her from the lunar surface, and from the far side of the moon she will travel 6,400 miles (10,300 km). From this vantage point — farther than humans have ever traveled into deep space — you can see both the Earth and the Moon through Orion’s windows.
Artemis 2’s mission ends with Orion landing in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. There, a US Navy vessel and her NASA team are staged to meet and retrieve the crew and spacecraft. If the flight is successful, her NASA will be set up for Artemis 3, the first mission to bring humans back to the moon, and the first woman and next American will reach the lunar south pole as early as late 2025. is scheduled to land on
Now that the Artemis 2 crew has been assigned, NASA will begin training sessions with just the astronauts, and as launch approaches, they will integrate with the Mission Control team, who will monitor the mission from the ground. In March, the engineer completed the integration of all five of his main structures for the Artemis 2 SLS core stage. The Orion spacecraft, its European Service Module, ICPS and SLS solid rocket segments are already at Kennedy Space Center, where they are being prepared for flight or waiting to be stacked as part of the rocket.
Artemis 2’s four-man crew was drawn from 41 active NASA astronauts and four CSA astronauts. The decision fell to Joe Acaba, head of the Office of Astronauts, Norm Knight, head of the Office of Flight Operations, and Vanessa Wyche, director of the Johnson Space Center.
The crew includes three astronauts who have previously flown in space, and one whose Artemis 2 will be his first launch.
Wiseman, 47, spent 165 days in Earth orbit on his first mission, a 2014 flight to the ISS. A native of Baltimore, Maryland and a former US Navy fighter pilot, he was selected in 2009 for his 20th NASA astronaut class. Weisman recently served as head of NASA’s Astronaut Office from 2020 until 2022.
“There are three words we keep saying in the Artemis program: ‘We’re going,’ and I want people to say it,” Wiseman said.
Glover, 46, became a NASA astronaut in 2013. He will fly as a pilot on SpaceX’s first operational manned spaceflight (Crew-1) and in 2021 he will spend 167 days on the ISS. US Navy. Glover was the first black astronaut to serve on the space station crew.
“There is so much to celebrate, much more than the four names that have been announced,” Glover said. “We need to celebrate this moment in human history because Artemis II is more than a mission to the moon. It’s more than a mission that has to happen before we send humans to the moon.It’s the next step in the journey.’It will bring humans to Mars. ”
“Humanity’s spaceflight is like a relay race, from generation to generation, crew to crew: Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Apollo Soyuz, Mir, Space Shuttle, International Space Station, commercial crews. The baton has been passed to the mission of Artemis and now we understand our role in it. We will do our best to have a good race to make you proud.
Coke, 44, was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and raised in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Koch, who was elected in 2013 and is a member of NASA’s 21st class of astronauts, set her record of 328 days, the longest single mission by a woman to board the International Space Station. established. During her stay that 2019, she also took part in half of the first-ever all-female spacewalk.Koch is an engineer and former director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
“Fellow astronauts know that one of the questions we get all the time is, ‘Are you excited?’ And when you think about this mission, are you excited? Of course.” Koch said. “My real question is, ‘Are you excited?'”
Hansen, 47, was selected to join the Canadian Astronaut Corps in 2009. He is a Colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force and was born in London, Ontario. Although Artemis 2 will be his first space flight, Hansen said he had been on board the Aquarius Underwater Laboratory in 2014 and the year before as part of his CAVES astronaut training course at the European Space Agency. I participated as a cave astronaut.
Hansen’s seat in Artemis 2 is part of the “Canada-U.S. Gateway Treaty,” an agreement between NASA and CSA, the latter requiring all external robots to operate a human-controlled gateway platform. will supervise and operate the lunar orbit. The treaty also includes Canadian astronauts who will fly to Gateway as part of the crew of future Artemis missions.
“There are two reasons why Canadians go to the moon that make me smile,” says Hansen. “The first is American leadership. It is second to none of us that America can choose to return to the moon on its own. My definition is true leadership.”
“The second reason is Canada’s can-do attitude,” he said.
The Artemis 2 crew is the first lunar crew NASA has unveiled in over 50 years and is expected to be the next to fly to Earth’s closest neighbor, but other currently planned There are at least two manned lunar missions. SpaceX, NASA’s Artemis 3 Manned Landing System (HLS or Lunar Lander) partner, has booked two of his privately funded space flights to orbit the Moon using her Starship spacecraft, currently under development. bottom.
The dearMoon project, underwritten by Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, has named a crew of eight artists for December 2022. Schedules for both launches are still being planned.
If Artemis 2 launches first, Weismann, Glover, Koch, and Hansen will be the 25th to 28th voyages to the moon. The first astronauts to visit the moon were Frank Bowman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders on the Apollo 8 crew in 1968.
With the Artemis program, NASA intends to lead to sustainable human presence on and around the Moon, where astronauts can learn the skills and techniques necessary to send astronauts to Mars. I’m here.
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