NASA REVEALS HISTORIC CREW FOR 2024 ARTEMIS MOON VOYAGE; MEET THE CREW

Tue 04 Apr 2023:

On Monday, NASA released the names of the four astronauts who will be traveling on the Artemis II mission. The training for NASA’s lunar mission, which will launch in November 2024, will start this year. The astronauts are Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Reid Wiseman of NASA.

“For the first time in more than 50 years, these individuals — the Artemis II crew — will be the first humans to fly to the vicinity of the Moon,” Vanessa Wyche, director of the Johnson Space Center, said in a statement.

The launch, scheduled for 2024, will be only the second in the Artemis programme, a multinational initiative to establish a “long-term presence at the moon”. The last time a manned crew approached the moon was in 1972, as part of NASA’s Apollo programme.

“This mission paves the way for the expansion of human deep space exploration and presents new opportunities for scientific discoveries, commercial, industry and academic partnerships,” Wyche said.

She called the crew “the best of humanity”. They include three veterans of space travel from the US: Wisemen, Glover and Koch. All three will be making their second trip into space with the Artemis flight.

Meet the crew of Artemis II mission

1. Christina Koch

NASA astronaut Christina Koch will be the mission specialist for Artemis 3. Koch visited the space station in 2019, where she was part of the first all-woman spacewalk in history. She began her career as an electrical engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre. Just before becoming an astronaut, she served at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as station chief for America Samoa.

Christina Koch On December 28, 2019m Koch broke the record for the longest continuous time in space by a woman and returned from space on February 6, 2020. Koch was also included in Time’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020.

2. Victor Glover

Victor Glover will be the pilot for Artemis 2, responsible for navigating around the Moon. Glover was previously the pilot for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission. According to NASA, he has lodged over 3000 flight hours in more than 40 different aircraft. Glover is a captain and F/A pilot in the US Navy and is a graduate of the US Air Force Test Pilot School. He was also a crew member of Expedition 64 and served as a station systems flight engineer.

Victor Glover Apart from being an engineer, Glover holds a certificate in space systems from the Naval Postgraduate School, as well as a certificate in legislative studies from Georgetown University.

3. Reid Wiseman

Reid Wiseman will be the commander of the Artemis II mission, Wiseman previously lived and worked on the International Space Station in 2014. Before that, he commanded the undersea research mission NEEMO21, a 16-day underwater mission that simulated space exploration. He also served as chief of NASA’s Astronaut Office in the past.

Reid Wiseman Before joining NASA, Wiseman was a naval aviator and test pilot. He has a degree in computer and systems engineering and also a master’s degree in systems engineering. Apart from being an astronaut, he is also a go-cart driver.

4. Jeremy Hansen

Jeremy Hansen will represent the Canadian Space Agency during the mission, and he was a fighter pilot before joining the space agency. He has worked with NASA on astronaut training and mission operations, but this will be his first-ever mission in space.

Jeremy Hansen Hansen was the pilot of the CF-118 fighter jet in the Royal Canadian Air Force and was promoted to the rank of colonel before joining the Canadian Space Agency. He has a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in space science with First Class Honours from the Royal Military College in Ontario. He is also a Master of Science in Physics, with a research focus on a wide field of view satellite tracking.

NASA’s Artemis II mission

NASA’s Artemis I mission laid the foundations of its latest human exploration capabilities, which included the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, Orion spacecraft, and all associated ground systems. Artemis II will be the first crewed mission to test all of this. It will be a 10-day-long mission that will have the four astronauts flying around the Moon to test Orion and its life-support mission to ensure that it can provide a safe habitat for astronauts to live and work during deep space exploration.

The Artemis programme is a joint initiative between American, Canadian, Japanese and European aerospace agencies.

Its first unmanned mission began in November 2022 after several months of delays. It successfully completed two lunar flybys before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.

Like the first Artemis mission, the manned crew announced on Monday will take off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the US.

NASA said the lessons of the upcoming Artemis flights would help the agency prepare for its “next giant leap: sending the first astronauts to Mars”.

“The Artemis II crew represents thousands of people working tirelessly to bring us to the stars,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, a former astronaut and senator, said in the agency’s statement.

“Together, we are ushering in a new era of exploration for a new generation of star sailors and dreams — the Artemis Generation.”

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent