After fifty-five years, NASA is once again sending astronauts to the moon. The Artemis II mission is the first manned flight in the Artemis program — Artemis I used the same technology but did not carry a crew. Artemis uses a new Space Launch System and Orion Spacecraft; the Artemis II crew will be responsible for testing life support systems in the actual environment where the technology is expected to function: space.
According to NASA, the rocket will launch from Kennedy Space Center no earlier than September 2025. It will orbit the earth before shooting off into space to the moon. The astronauts, however, will not be landing that is the goal of Artemis III. By the time the spacecraft reaches the far side of the moon, Earth will be visible over two hundred and fifty thousand miles away. Because of the nature of the trajectory, the gravity of Earth and the moon will then pull the ship back to Earth without it having to use jet fuel. The entire mission, from takeoff to landing, will take about ten days.
The commander of the crew will be Reid Wiseman, a NASA astronaut of fifteen years. Who was commissioned from the ROTC (Reserve Officers’ Training Corps) and has spent over a hundred sixty-five days in space. Wiseman also served as the Chief of the Astronaut Office for two years.
Victor Glover was selected as the pilot of the mission. As a former test pilot, he has logged more than three thousand flight hours and has been deployed in the U.S. and Japan. He was previously a member of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1, making this his second time in space.
Christina Koch, one of two mission specialists on board, received her master’s in electrical engineering at the University of Ghana. She even holds the record for the longest spaceflight by a woman, logging over three hundred twenty-eight total days in space, and took part in the first three all-female spacewalks.
The other mission specialist, Jeremy Hansen, is a Canadian Space Agency astronaut. Hansen joined the 614 Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron at the age of twelve, then went on to become a fighter pilot. He will be the first Canadian on the moon.
The Artemis missions are intended to restart NASA’s deep space program and set up a permanent scientific presence on the moon. In addition, they will pave the way to potentially develop the technology to put a human on Mars. By taking baby steps, from unmanned missions to test missions to moon landings, the future of space travel is limitless.
