After more than fifty years, humans will return to flying to the Moon. Travel around the Moon with manned spacecraft is carried out by NASA through the Artemis 2 mission.
On April 3, 2023 NASA announced the names of the lucky astronauts to fly to the Moon. What was the Artemis II mission and who were the astronauts sent to the Moon? Let’s see the explanation.
1. What are the Artemis 2 missions?
artemis mission logo (openclipart.org/j4p4n)
Since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 there has never been a space mission with a human crew to the Moon. The most distant astronauts have traveled to the surface of the Earth or the ISS (International Space Station). The Artemis 2 mission is an astronomer’s dream in terms of space exploration. This is because Artemis 2 will eventually send humans back to the Moon.
These four astronauts will head to the Moon on the Orion MPCV spacecraft. The astronauts are planned to circle the surface of the moon in November 2024 in 10 days.
The aim of the Artemis 2 mission is to further study the conditions on the Moon’s surface. NASA and several sponsors hope that after the Artemis 2 mission there will be continued human visits to Earth’s natural satellite. Furthermore, the Artemis series of missions has the long-term goal of being a stepping stone to sending humans to Mars.
Then, who are the four astronauts appointed as human representatives to visit the Moon? There will be four people, namely commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Hammock Kochi, and mission specialist Jeremy Hansen.
2. Commander Reid Wiseman
commander Reid Wiseman (nasa.gov)
G Reid Wiseman is an astronaut born in Baltimore, Maryland. His last degree was Master of Science in Science Engineering which he earned in 2006.
Wiseman served as Flight Engineer on NASA’s Expedition 41 from May to November 2014. Expedition 41 was a 165 day mission in space. On that mission Wiseman broke the record for the longest research time in space, namely 82 hours of research in a week.
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3. Pilot Victor Glover
pilot Victor Glover (nasa.gov)
Victor J. Glover, Jr. born in Pomona, California. He entered to become an astronaut in 2013 and passed the certification in 2015.
Glover forgot about the members of Expedition 64 and SpaceX Crew-1. Expedition 64 was conducted November 15, 2020 to May 2, 2021. At that time Glover served as Flight Engineer.
Meanwhile, SpaceX Crew-1 is the first post-certification mission of SpaceX’s Crew with the Dragon spacecraft. This mission was also the second manned human spaceflight mission for the Dragon spacecraft.
So far Glover has completed 168 days in orbit and participated in four spacewalks. With Artemis 2, Glover will become the first black person to go on an expedition to the Moon.
4. Mission specialist Christina Hammock Koch
Christina Hammock Koch (nasa.gov)
Christina Hammock Koch was born in Rapids, Michigan and grew up in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Koch entered as an astronaut at NASA in 2013.
Koch graduated with Bachelor of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering and Physics. He later earned a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. His studies continued with a Ph.D. from North Carolina State University.
Koch has participated in several NASA space missions, including Expeditions 59, 60 and 61. For these three missions, Koch has set a record as a woman with the longest space mission of 328 days in outer space. The Artemis 2 mission will make Koch the first woman to take a spacewalk to the Moon.
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