NASA selects Artemis II astronauts

NASA named the four astronauts who will fly around the moon late next year, including the first woman, first African American and first Canadian assigned to the Artemis II lunar mission. The first moon crew in 50 years was introduced during a ceremony in Houston on April 3. The four astronauts will be the first to fly NASA’s Orion capsule, launching atop a Space Launch System rocket from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., no earlier than late 2024. They will not land or orbit the moon, but rather fly around it and head straight back to Earth, a prelude to a lunar landing by two others in 2025. Mission commander Reid Wiseman will be joined by Victor Glover, an African American naval aviator; Christina Koch, who holds the world record for the longest spaceflight by a woman; and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen, a former fighter pilot and the crew’s lone space rookie. Wiseman, Glover and Koch have all lived on the International Space Station. This is the first moon crew in NASA’s Artemis program. In 2022, an empty Orion capsule flew to the moon and back in a long-awaited dress rehearsal. (The AP 04/03/23) Gulf Coast Note: Both the Michoud Assembly Facility in East New Orleans and Stennis Space Center in Mississippi have been significantly involved in the Artemis program.