NASA has finally revealed its pick of astronauts for its Artemis 2 mission.
The space agency, along with the European Space Agency (ESA), recently revealed who it picked for its upcoming Artemis 2 mission and the first human crew of its Artemis program.
NASA is currently targeting to launch its Artemis 2 mission, which it expects to last ten days, in Nov. 2024.
NASA Artemis 2 Astronauts
NASA and the ESA revealed in the former's live stream the astronauts picked to go around the moon as part of the upcoming Artemis 2 mission following the success of Artemis 1.
According to NASA astronaut Bill Nelson, the astronauts they picked represent "humanity and the thousands of people working tirelessly to bring humanity back to the stars," per NASA's blog post. These astronauts are NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Hammock Koch, and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
Wiseman and Glover are assigned as the mission's commander and pilot, respectively, while Koch and Hansen will serve as Artemis 2's mission specialists.
The Artemis 2 mission means a lot to these astronauts. It will be Wiseman, Glover, and Koch's second trip to space. Wiseman was previously a flight engineer aboard the International Space Station for Expedition 41 from May through Nov. 2014.
Meanwhile, Glover and Koch were SpaceX Crew-1's pilot and flight engineer aboard the ISS for Expeditions 59 through 61, respectively. Interestingly, it was these three missions that helped Koch 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.
Finally, the Artemis 2 mission is Hansen's first trip into space; he is a colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces and a former fighter pilot holding a Bachelor of Science in space science from the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario. Hansen also achieved his Masteral degree in physics in the same institution, with him focusing on Wide Field of View Satellite Tracking.
These four astronauts will go around the moon to test whether NASA's Orion spacecraft can support life during its journey to the moon and back. The honor of being the first humans on the moon's surface belongs to the crew of NASA's Artemis 3 mission.
NASA Artemis 2 Details
NASA has now prepared almost everything it needs for its Artemis 2 mission. The space agency had already gathered, assessed, and eventually released the data it needs to show that its Space Launch System mega-rocket performed "exceptionally" and that it is ready to support its upcoming Artemis 2 mission.
With the revelation of Artemis 2's crew, NASA only has to prepare its equipment and spacecraft for the mission to properly commence.
Thanks to these preparations, NASA will soon launch its Artemis 2 mission around Nov. 2024; it will last for around ten days as NASA could dare what no other space agency would do: send a crew beyond the moon, though the exact distance is still unknown. per CNN.
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