NASA unveiled on Monday which astronauts will travel to the moon in 2024. The American and Canadian crewmembers will travel aboard Artemis II. Where are they heading? To the moon. This will be the first trip to the moon since the voyage on Apollo XII more than half a century ago. According to aerospace agency administrator Bill Nelson, the mission will be conducted by "humanity's crew."
The Artemis II crew represents thousands of people working tirelessly to bring us to the stars. This is their crew, this is our crew, this is humanity's crew. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Hammock Koch, and CSA [Canadian Space Agency] astronaut Jeremy Hansen, each has their own story, but, together, they represent our creed: 'E pluribus unum' – out of many, one. Together, we are ushering in a new era of exploration for a new generation of star sailors and dreamers – the Artemis Generation.
The crew will be led by Reid Wiseman. This will be the astronaut's second time in space. His first trip was in 2014. During that trip, in which Wiseman served as a flight engineer on the International Station for Expedition 41, the astronaut spent more than 165 days in space, including "almost 13 hours as lead spacewalker during two trips outside the orbital complex."
It will also be the second trip to space for both Victor Glover and Christina Hammock Koch. Before this, Glover served as a pilot on NASA's SpaceX Crew-1 and spent 168 days in space. According to the space agency, on that trip, he completed four spacewalks. Kock also returns to space with Artemis II on what will be her second space voyage. Before this mission, the astronaut was a flight engineer aboard the space station for Expeditions 59, 60 and 61. According to the agency, she "set a record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman with a total of 328 days in space and participated in the first all-female spacewalks."
The Canadian Space Agency will also have an astronaut representing it. Jeremy Hansen will accompany the three Americans on what will be his first flight into space. However, his resume makes him worthy of such an honor. He was a colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces and a former fighter pilot. In 2017, NASA reports, he became the "first Canadian to be entrusted with leading a NASA astronaut class, leading the training of astronaut candidates from the United States and Canada."
