On 3rd April 2023, NASA and the Canadian Space Agency announced the crew for the Artemis 2 mission which will take 4 astronauts for a flyby of the moon.[1]
What is a Flyby?
A flight past a point, especially the close approach of a spacecraft to a planet or moon for observation.
Artemis 2 is the first crewed mission of the Artemis program, which aims to establish a long-term presence of humans on the Moon.
As NASA terms it, The 4 astronauts “representing” humanity are Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist 1 Christina Hammock Koch, and CSA astronaut, Mission Specialist 2 Jeremy Hansen.
The mission will last 10 days, and the crew will launch from NASA’s Space Launch System(SLS0 rocket) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA.
Artemis 2 is a historic mission as it plans to put humans back near the vicinity of the moon after 50 years.
Artemis 2 will be the first lunar mission to have a crew member of color, the first lunar mission to have a female crew member, and the first lunar mission to have a Canadian member.
The primary goal of Artemis 2 is to demonstrate the Orion Spacecraft’s ability to transport people to the Moon safely.
Artemis’s mission will serve as the precursor to the establishment of humanity on Mars.
Members of the Artemis 2 Crew
There 4 people in the Artemis 2 Crew include:
- Commander Reid Wiseman
- Pilor Victor Glover
- Christiana Koch
- Jeremy Hansen
Commander Reid Wiseman is an American Astronaut, Naval Aviator, and Engineer who served as the former Chief of the Astronaut Office from December 2020 until November 2022.
Reid qualified as an Astronaut in 2011 and was part of Expedition 41, spending a total of 165 days aboard the ISS, including 13 hours of spacewalking.
Pilor Victor Glover served as a Flight Engineer on Expedition 64 and contributed to scientific investigations, and technology demonstrations, and participated in 4 spacewalks.
Glover also served as the pilot for the SpaceX Crew-1 and spent a total of 168 days aboard the ISS.
Mission Specialist Christina Koch, has worked as a Flight Engineer in the ISS for Expedition 59, 60, 61.
Christiana is a record holder for the longest single spaceflight by a woman with a total of 328 days in space and was part of the first all-female spacewalk along with Jessica Meir.
Mission Specialist 2 CSA Astronaut Jeremy Hansen will be taking his first spaceflight, he is a Colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces, and former Fighter Pilot, and a Master of Science in Physics with a research focus in Wide Field of View Satellite Tracking.
In 2017, Jeremy Hansen became the first Canadian to be entrusted with leading a NASA astronaut class, leading the training of astronaut candidates from the United States and Canada.
Artemis 2 is going to be a significant milestone for humanity and with NASA’s announcement of the Artemis 2 crew, we are one step closer to fulfilling the dream of establishing a sustainable human presence on the Moon and beyond.
References
- NASA, ‘NASA Names Astronauts to Next Moon Mission, First Crew Under Artemis’, 3 March 2023, “NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) announced the four astronauts who will venture around the Moon on Artemis II, the first crewed mission on NASA’s path to establishing a long-term presence at the Moon for science and exploration through Artemis. The agencies revealed the crew members Monday during an event at Ellington Field near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.”, https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-names-astronauts-to-next-moon-mission-first-crew-under-artemis[↩]