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 Reid Wiseman?
Wiseman is the commander of the Artemis II mission. He is a former NASA chief astronaut and a US Navy test pilot who has already spent 165 days in space on the International Space Station.
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A Baltimore native, Wiseman was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 2009 and served as Flight Engineer aboard the International Space Station for Expedition 41 from May through November of 2014. Reid and his crewmates completed over 300 scientific experiments in areas like human physiology, medicine, physical science, Earth science and astrophysics during that 165-day mission. According to NASA, this was his first spaceflight, which included nearly “13 hours as lead spacewalker during two trips outside the orbital complex.”
{{/usCountry}}A Baltimore native, Wiseman was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 2009 and served as Flight Engineer aboard the International Space Station for Expedition 41 from May through November of 2014. Reid and his crewmates completed over 300 scientific experiments in areas like human physiology, medicine, physical science, Earth science and astrophysics during that 165-day mission. According to NASA, this was his first spaceflight, which included nearly “13 hours as lead spacewalker during two trips outside the orbital complex.”
{{/usCountry}}NASA says, “Reid also fostered a strong social media presence throughout his mission by sharing the raw emotions of spaceflight as seen through the eyes of a rookie flier. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, and a Master of Science in Systems Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He served as Chief of the Astronaut Office. Wiseman has been assigned as Commander of NASA’s Artemis II mission.”
Who is Victor J. Glover Jr.?
Glover is the mission pilot. A NASA astronaut and a US Navy captain, he is the first Black astronaut to live on the ISS for a long-duration assignment. He spent six months on the Crew-1 mission.
Glover was selected as an astronaut in 2013 while he was serving as a Legislative Fellow in the United States Senate, according to NASA. A California native, he “most recently served as pilot of the Crew-1 dragon spacecraft, named Resilience, which flew to the International Space Station, where he also served as Flight Engineer for Expedition 64/65,” NASA says.
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Glover earned an undergraduate engineering degree as a two sport athlete. He is a Naval Aviator and was a test pilot in the F/A‐18 Hornet, Super Hornet and EA‐18G Growler.
According to NASA, “He and his family have been stationed in many locations in the United States and Japan and he has deployed in combat and peacetime.”