The space agencies of the United States (NASA) and Canada (CSA) announced this Monday the members of the Artemis II mission, a woman and three men who in November 2024 will fly around the Moon in what will be the beginning of a new space age with Mars in sight.
The ten-day mission around the Moon will have Reid Wiseman as commander and Victor Glover as pilot, while astronaut Christina Hammock Koch and Jeremy Hansen, the latter from the CSA, will serve as mission specialists.
As the US space agency pointed out, the 4 will be part of “the first manned mission on NASA’s path to establish a long-term presence on the Moon”, and it will also be the first in 50 years to return to the Earth’s satellite since the culmination of the Apollo program, which between 1968 and 1972 put 12 astronauts on the lunar surface.
“This is the crew of Humanity,” said Bill Nelson, NASA administrator, during the presentation ceremony held at the Johnson Space Center in Houston (Texas).
The former Democratic senator said the mission is “the beginning of a new era of exploration for a new generation of star navigators and dreamers: the Artemis Generation.”
The selection released today was made from among 41 active astronauts, while Canada had 4 candidates.
NASA plans to send the first manned mission of the Artemis program to land on the satellite by 2025.
“INSPIRATION BETWEEN NATIONS AND FOR OUR NATION”
The four members of the Artemis II mission will take off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral (Florida), towards the end of 2024 (possibly in November) aboard an Orion capsule powered by the powerful SLS rocket, which have already been tested with the unmanned expedition Artemis I, in 2022.
“I pray that God blesses this mission, but I also pray that we can continue to serve as an inspiration for cooperation and peace, not just between nations, but within our own nation,” said Glover, who was the pilot on the mission. NASA Crew-1 in conjunction with SpaceX.
Before an audience that included minors among its attendees, as well as the entire NASA astronaut corps, Glover highlighted the “moment in the history of humanity” that Artemis II will represent and that will constitute the previous step for a manned mission reaches Mars for the first time.
“We are going to take all their emotions, aspirations and fears,” said Koch, who with Artemis II will complete his second space mission and will also hold the record for the longest individual space flight by a woman, with a total of 328 days. in the space.
In turn, the Canadian Hansen, who will make his first space trip with this mission, thanked on behalf of his country the long space alliance with the United States and the global leadership of NASA.
“On behalf of all Canadians, I want to congratulate Jeremy for leading one of the most ambitious human endeavors ever undertaken,” François-Philippe Champagne, minister responsible for Canada’s CSA, said during the presentation.
“We are going (We are going),” Wiseman closed to applause, after having shared his congratulations with the other members of the expedition.
BIDEN CONGRATULATES THE CREW
The White House reported today that US President Joe Biden called the four astronauts on Sunday to congratulate and thank them for their service, which inspires “countless people in the United States and around the world.” .
Biden also took the opportunity to speak by phone with the children of the astronauts, a senior White House official told the press.
Buzz Aldrin, the astronaut of the 1969 Apollo 11 mission who walked on the lunar surface, joined the round of congratulations today.
“His role in carrying out America’s effort in space will be very inspiring,” he said in a post on Twitter.