NASA presents the four astronauts who will man the Artemis II lunar mission

The four astronauts who will man the Artemis II lunar mission in 2024 have been presented by NASA.

In a live broadcast earlier today, Monday, April 3, NASA announced the names of the astronauts who will board Orion for the Artemis II mission. This will be the spacecraft’s second trip of the lunar project, except this time, it will be manned.

Here they are. @SenBillNelson announces the #Artemis II crew, the next astronauts to fly around the Moon:@Astro_Christina@Astro_Jeremy@AstroVicGlover@Astro_Reid

We go together. https://t.co/XdUizg2Wye pic.twitter.com/6Yo4I2lKeJ

— NASA (@NASA) April 3, 2023

NASA had previously confirmed that three Americans and a representative of the Canadian Space Agency had been chosen to make the journey into space. Finally, faces, names and surnames can be put to the lucky ones who will orbit the moon in 2024.

At a special presentation, Senator Bill Nelson introduced the four astronauts who will be a part of The Artemis Generation. The crew of this mission includes the first woman and the first person of colour to make such a trip. Senator Nelson welcomed 47-year-old Reid Wiseman, 44-year-old Christina Hammock Koch, 47-year-old Jeremy Hansen, and 46-year-old Victor Glover.

Reid will be the mission commander. He previously worked aboard the International Space Station as a flight engineer in 2014 and also commanded the NEEMO21 underwater research mission.

Christina is an electrical engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. She visited the International Space Station in 2019, in the first all-female spacewalk.

Jeremy is a British citizen from London but will represent the Canadian agency. He was a fighter pilot before joining the CSA and currently works with NASA in astronaut training and mission operations. This will be Hansen’s first mission in space.

Victor was a pilot on the first manned SpaceX Crew-1 mission with NASA. He has more than 3,000 flight hours in more than 40 different aircraft and will be in charge of piloting Orion towards lunar orbit.

The @NASA Artemis II crewed mission around the Moon will inspire the next generation of explorers, and show every child – in America, in Canada, and across the world – that if they can dream it, they can be it. pic.twitter.com/X8q3GLTBiQ

— President Biden (@POTUS) April 3, 2023

Following the success of Artemis I – NASA’s unmanned mission to test Orion late last year – the team began work on Artemis II. The ultimate goal of the space program is for humans to set foot on the Moon again after more than 50 years without sending anyone there.

On this second mission, the astronauts will blast off from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The ship will eventually approach the Moon and orbit it for a few days.

The purpose will not be for Orion to land on the celestial body, but for them to spend 9 days and 13 hours travelling to the Moon and, once there, to spend 6 days moving around it and collecting data.

The Artemis II crew members will wear new orange-coloured suits that NASA has prepared for entering and exiting the Earth’s atmosphere. These suits can keep the occupants alive for six days in the event of a loss of cabin pressure and will be custom-made. They will be worn during launch, removed in space, and then put back on upon reentry to Earth, as reported by 20minutos.es.

You can read a full press release about the mission, released by NASA, here.

___________________________________________________________

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. Do remember to come back and check The Euro Weekly News website for all your up-to-date local and international news stories and remember, you can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.