Humans will return to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years during the Artemis II mission next year. On Monday, we learned the names of the crew members that will lead the historic trip to establish a long-term presence on the moon. During a thrilling, crowded event at Ellington Field near NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on Monday, the space agency introduced the four astronauts—which includes the first woman and first person of color assigned to a moon mission—who will perform the lunar flyby aboard NASA's Orion spaceship on November 2024.
The members of the first crewed lunar mission since Apollo are Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Hammock Koch and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency. Wiseman, 47, is a decorated naval aviator and test pilot who was first selected to be an astronaut in 2009. This will be his second trip into space, having previously taken a 165-day spaceflight to the International Space Station. Most recently, Wiseman served as chief of the Astronaut Office from December 2020 to November 2022.
Norman Knight, NASA's director of flight operations, addresses the Artemis II crew on stage Monday.
Koch, a 44-year-old engineer, is also making her second flight to space on the Artemis II mission, having previously served as a flight engineer aboard the space station for Expeditions 59, 60, and 61. A veteran of six spacewalks—including three of the first all-female spacewalks—Koch also holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, with a total of 328 days in space. Now, she will be the first woman to fly around the moon.
"Am I excited? Absolutely," Koch said to a cheering audience. "But my real question is, are you excited? And I ask that because the one thing I'm most excited about is that we are going to carry your excitement, your aspirations, your dreams with us on this mission."
Glover is a 46-year-old U.S. Navy aviator and test pilot who has flown over 40 different aircraft and is a veteran of four spacewalks. He will be making his second spaceflight with Artemis II, previously serving as a pilot on NASA's SpaceX Crew-1, which landed on May 2, 2021, after 168 days in space. Glover, who also served as a flight engineer above the space station for Expedition 64, will be the first Black astronaut ever to be sent on a lunar mission.
"We have a lot to celebrate and it's so much more than the four names that have been announced," Glover said. "We need to celebrate this moment in human history because Artemis II is more than a mission to the moon and back. It's more than a mission that has to happen before we send people to the surface of the moon. It is the next step on the journey that gets humanity to Mars."
Hansen, 47, is a Royal Canadian Air Force colonel and former fighter pilot who will be the first Canadian ever chosen for a flight to the moon. He was selected by the Canadian Space Agency for astronaut training in 2009. In 2017, Hansen became the first Canadian to be put in charge of training for a new class of NASA astronauts. This will be his first flight to space.
"It is not lost on any of us that the United States could choose to go back to the moon by themselves," Hansen said. "But America has made a very deliberate choice over decades to curate a global team and that in my definition is true leadership."
Sen. Ted Cruz, U.S. Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Houston), Brian Babin (R-Woodville), and Lizzie Fletcher (D-Houston) each gave remarks at the Artemis II crew reveal.
Thousands were in the audience for the crew reveal, including a number of politicians, among them Sen. Ted Cruz, U.S. Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Houston), Brian Babin (R-Woodville), and Lizzie Fletcher (D-Houston), each of whom gave remarks. Cruz called the team "badass," adding that as a father of two daughters, he is particularly proud of the mission's goal to send the first woman to the moon.
"It is an exciting moment to know that the four of you will be the first men and women to go to the moon in 50 years," Cruz told the astronauts. "That's a big deal for America, that's a big deal for Canada, that's a big deal for the world...You carry the hopes and dreams, the weight of humanity with you."
NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy (left), NASA Administrator Bill Nelson (center), and Associate NASA Administrator Robert Cabana introduced the members of the Artemis II mission crew on Monday.
Back in December, NASA successfully completed its Artemis I mission after sending its unmanned Orion capsule on a 25-day voyage around the moon. Artemis II will build on it, sending Hansen, Koch, Glover, and Wiseman on the same mission. The 10-day voyage will kick off with the Orion spacecraft launching from atop NASA's most powerful rocket yet, the Space Launch System, from the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida in November 2024. Artemis III, slated to launch in 2025, is planned to put humans on the surface of the moon. The Artemis program was designed to establish a permanent lunar outpost that will eventually help facilitate missions to Mars.
"It's been more than a half-century since astronauts journeyed to the moon. Well, folks, that's about to change," said NASA administrator Bill Nelson who named the crew members. "The mission to the moon will launch four pioneers, but it will carry more than astronauts. Artemis II will carry the hopes of millions of people around the world."