WASHINGTON: The four astronauts will now begin training for the historic Artemis II lunar flyby, which is scheduled to launch in November 2024. This will be the first crewed moon mission in fifty years.
The astronauts are Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Reid Wiseman of NASA.
Wiseman, an accomplished test pilot and navy aviator who is 47 years old, was first chosen to be a NASA astronaut in 2009. He is a native of Baltimore, Maryland, and has been into space once before, completing a 165-day mission to the International Space Station in 2014.
Wiseman most recently worked as the astronaut office's chief until resigning in November 2022 and becoming qualified for a flying assignment. The mission's commander, Wiseman, will lead Artemis II.
The Canadian Space Agency chose Hansen, a 47-year-old combat pilot, for astronaut training in 2009. Hansen, a native of London, Ontario, is one of only four active Canadian astronauts and was just appointed as the nation's first astronaut trainer for a fresh batch of NASA astronauts.
He will make history as the first Canadian to visit deep space.
The second crewed flight of SpaceX's Crew Dragon was piloted by 46-year-old naval aviator Glover, who made his first trip into space in 2021. Glover spent nearly six months on the International Space Station. In the 2000s, Glover, a Pomona, California, native, served in a number of military squadrons in both the US and Japan.
He also successfully completed test pilot training with the US Air Force. He was a legislative fellow for the US Senate until he was chosen in 2013 to join the NASA astronaut corps. Glover completed 24 combat missions, over 400 carrier arrest landings, and 3,000 total flying hours in over 40 different aircraft.
Glover's first trip into space was as a member of the SpaceX Crew-1 crew, which launched in November 2020 to the International Space Station for a six-month stay.
Six spacewalks have been completed by Koch, 44, including the first all-female spacewalk in 2019. With 328 days in space, she holds the record for the longest solo spaceflight by a woman. Koch is also an electrical engineer who assisted in the creation of research instruments for a number of NASA missions. Koch, a Grand Rapids, Michigan, native, also spent a year at the South Pole; this rigorous time there may have helped Koch prepare for the rigours of a moon journey.
Also Watch: