Four astronauts are set to take part in a 685,000-mile historic journey to the moon. The Artemis II rocket launch is scheduled for Wednesday evening, April 1. It will mark the first time humans have flown beyond low-Earth orbit since the Apollo 17 mission that landed on the moon in 1972.
The mission involves a lunar flyby in which the astronauts are set to facilitate the testing of critical spacecraft systems. Aboard the Orion spacecraft, named ‘Integrity,’ will be three Americans and one Canadian – Reid Wiseman, Victor J. Glover Jr., Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen.
Who is Christina Koch?
Koch is a mission specialist who holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman at 328 days. She is a member of the Space Camp Hall of Fame who attended the camp at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center multiple times as a youngster.
In 2019, Koch, a native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, made history with fellow astronaut Jessica Mer when they performed the first all-female spacewalk. Koch, who was selected as an astronaut in 2013, completed six spacewalks.
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{{/usCountry}}Koch previously served as Branch Chief of the Assigned Crew Branch in the Astronaut Office and did a rotation as Assistant for Technical Integration for the Center Director at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, according to NASA.
NASA says, “Prior to becoming an astronaut, Christina’s experience spanned both space science mission instrument development and remote scientific field engineering in the Antarctic and Arctic. Her hobbies include surfing, rock and ice climbing, programming, community service, triathalons, yoga, backpacking, woodworking, photography and travel.”
Who is Jeremy Hansen?
Hansen, the other mission specialist, is part of the Canadian Space Agency. He will become the first non-US astronaut to fly to the moon as part of the Artemis II crew. A colonel and a CF-18 fighter pilot, Hansen helped NASA with astronaut training and mission operations. Artemis II is going to mark his first mission in space.
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According to the National Air and Space Museum, Hansen was born in 1976 in London, Ontario. “A star who won awards at every career level, Hansen became one of two selected in CSA’s third astronaut recruitment in 2009. After moving to Houston, Texas, to become a member of NASA’s new astronaut class, he graduated training in 2011. That allowed him to assume various roles, including working in Mission Control as a CAPCOM (capsule communicator) on ISS missions. Rather than preparing for a station mission, which requires a fluent command of Russian and training in Russia as well as the United States, he seems to have set his sights early on deep space exploration,” the website says.
It adds, “In 2013, he lived underground with European astronauts for six days as part of a European Space Agency cave-training program; a year later he spent a week underwater in the Aquarius habitat off Key Largo, Florida, something Hadfield and other astronauts have done. In 2017, he became the first non-American to lead a new NASA astronaut class through their two years of training.”