Astronauts for historic moon flyby mission announced. Here’s what we know

Four astronauts will complete a historic space mission flying by the moon in 2024. It will be “the first crewed moon mission in five decades,” and the astronauts who will complete the mission were announced Monday, according to CNN.

From NASA, there is Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch — Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen is the fourth astronaut who will join the space flight.

“We are here today with the mission to introduce the world to the crew of Artemis II for names, for explorers, for my friends, answering the call to once more rocket away from Earth, and chart a course around the moon,” Joe Acaba, chief of NASA’s astronaut office, said at the event, per ABC News.

Here’s what we know about each of the astronauts, according to CNN.

Astronaut Christina Koch

Kock has performed six spacewalks and has spent 328 days in space total — holding the “record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman.” She is a trained electrical engineer and has played a role in developing “scientific instruments” that have helped on multiple NASA missions.

Astronaut Reid Wiseman

Wiseman spent 165 days in space in 2014, launching from a Russian Soyuz rocket and stationing at the International Space Station. He is 47-years-old and a “decorated naval aviator and test pilot.” In 2009, he first became an astronaut officially.

Astronaut Victor Glover

Glover completed his first spaceflight in 2021 and spent six months on the International Space Station, “after piloting the second crewed flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Spacecraft.” He has completed four spacewalks, has a master’s degree in engineering and is 46 years old.

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“We have a lot to celebrate, and it’s so much more than the four names that have been announced. We need to celebrate this moment in human history,” said Glover during the announcement, per NPR. “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.”

Astronaut Jeremy Hansen

Hansen comes from the Canadian Space Agency and has been an astronaut since 2009. He’s a 47-year-old fighter pilot and “recently became the first Canadian to be put in charge of training for a new class of NASA astronauts.”

What will Artemis II mission look like?

The first phase of the NASA Artemis program took place last year, launching an uncrewed Orion into space in November 2022, which spent 25 and a half days in space. The second phase in November 2024 will take the astronauts around the moon for around 10 days. If all goes to plan, the last phase will launch in 2025 and put astronauts back on the moon for the first time since 1972, NPR reported.

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