Meet NASA Artemis II astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen

Key Points:

• Four astronauts—Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen—are set to launch on NASA’s Artemis II mission, marking the first crewed lunar mission in over 50 years and potentially traveling farther from Earth than any humans before.
• The 10-day Artemis II mission will orbit the moon without landing, serving as a critical test of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule to pave the way for future lunar landings planned for 2027 and beyond.
• The crew includes historic firsts: the first woman, first person of color, and first Canadian to fly a lunar mission, with all astronauts bringing personal mementos to space to honor their families.
• Each astronaut brings significant experience, with Koch holding the record for longest single spaceflight by a woman and Glover having flown on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon; Hansen will make his spaceflight debut as Canada’s first lunar astronaut.
• Artemis II aims to demonstrate key mission procedures such as docking and system tests, laying the groundwork for NASA’s goal of a sustained human presence on the moon through the Artemis program’s future missions.