NASA's Artemis Astronauts Enter Final Preparations for Moon Mission

RTE

(L-R) Jeremy Hansen, Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Commander Reid Wiseman pictured in January

The four astronauts chosen for NASA’s Artemis II mission arrived in Florida on Friday, marking the start of the final stage of preparations for humanity’s first crewed journey towards the Moon in over fifty years.

NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, landed in Northrop T-38 jets after flying from Houston, Texas, to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. From there, they could launch into space as early as 1 April aboard NASA’s powerful Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

The crew will travel in the Orion capsule, which is designed to carry humans into deep space. The mission, expected to last around ten days, will see them fly at high speed around the Moon before returning to Earth.

"The nation and the world has been waiting a long time to do this again," Wiseman, the mission commander, told reporters after landing at Kennedy Space ⁠Center, adding that he and his crewmates "are really pumped to go do this."

"It has been a lot of work. It's been a great journey, it's great to be down here in the Florida warm air," he added.

Artemis II will mark the first crewed mission of NASA’s multi-billion-dollar Artemis programme. Although it will not attempt a lunar landing, it will carry astronauts farther from Earth than any previous human spaceflight, testing the Orion spacecraft’s life-support systems, navigation, communications and heat shield.

Boeing serves as the lead contractor for the Space Launch System’s core stage, while Northrop Grumman manufactures the rocket’s solid-fuel boosters, and Lockheed Martin produces the Orion spacecraft.

The crew have undergone more than two years of training since being announced in 2023. They have been in standard pre-flight quarantine at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston since 18 March and are due to transfer to the Astronaut Crew Quarters in Florida ahead of launch.

Victor Glover, the mission’s pilot, will become the first Black astronaut to travel to the vicinity of the Moon. Christina Koch will be the first woman to do so, while Jeremy Hansen will be the first non-American astronaut to venture beyond low Earth orbit.

All of the crew, with the exception of Hansen, have previously travelled to space. Mission commander Reid Wiseman said last year that the team were fully prepared for any eventuality.

"When we get off the planet, we might come right back home, we might spend three or four days around Earth, we might go to the Moon - that's where we want to go," Wiseman said. "But it is a test mission, and we're ready for every scenario."

Wiseman, 50, logged ⁠165 days aboard the International Space Station during a 2014 mission launched aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. A former U.S. Navy test pilot, he later served as NASA's chief astronaut before being selected to command Artemis II.

Glover, 49, spent 168 days in space beginning in 2020 as pilot of NASA's Crew-1 mission, the first operational ISS mission using SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule. Before joining ⁠NASA, he flew more than 40 aircraft during a U.S. Navy career that included combat deployments and test-pilot duties.

Koch, 47, set a record in 2019 for the longest continuous spaceflight by a woman, spending 328 days aboard the ISS. Trained as an electrical engineer and physicist, she previously worked as a NASA engineer and carried out extended ⁠research expeditions in Antarctica.

The mission will mark the first spaceflight for Hansen, 50, who was selected as a Canadian astronaut in 2009. His seat reflects a long-standing U.S.–Canadian partnership in human spaceflight, including Canada's contributions to robotics used aboard the ISS.

NASA plans additional Artemis missions in the years ahead as it works toward a sustained human presence on the Moon and future crewed missions to Mars.

Source: Reuters



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