NASA has named the four astronauts who will man its upcoming mission to orbit the Moon, one of whom has local ties.
The ceremony to reveal the crew took place at Johnson Space Center’s Ellington Field in Houston on Monday, April 3.
Three Americans and one Canadian were named. They will embark on a 10-day mission known as Artemis II.
- Reid Wiseman, NASA, commander
- Victor Glover, NASA, pilot
- Christina Hammock Koch, NASA, mission specialist 1
- Jeremy Hansen, Canadian Space Agency, mission specialist 2
Glover’s father, Victor Glover Sr., lives in Prosper and spoke with NBC 5 about his reaction to the news.
“Watching the announcement this morning I had tears running down my face because [I was] excited and emotional at the same time,” Glover Sr. said, per NBC 5.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, this will be a historic mission. Not only will it set up NASA for Artemis III in 2027, which will be the first manned mission to the Moon since 1972; it also aims to lay the groundwork for manned missions to Mars.
By traveling to the Moon and back, Artemis II will test “the agency’s powerful Space Launch System rocket, prove the Orion spacecraft’s life-support systems, and validate the capabilities and techniques needed for humans to live and work in deep space,” an announcement from NASA read.
Artemis I was an unmanned 25-day mission run at the end of last year that tested the Orion spacecraft in flight, The Dallas Express reported. It flew by the lunar surface twice and traveled nearly 270,000 miles from Earth at the farthest point of its mission.
The new mission is scheduled to take place no earlier than the end of 2024.
Glover completed a long-term stay on the International Space Station in 2021.
Wiseman and Koch have also lived aboard the International Space Station. Hansen, a former fighter pilot, is the only “space rookie” on the crew.
The four astronauts were selected from among 41 NASA and four Canadian candidates.
The Canadian Space Agency secured a position on the upcoming mission due to its significant contributions in designing and producing large robotic arms for use on NASA’s space shuttles and the International Space Station.
“This is a big day. We have a lot to celebrate, and it’s so much more than the four names that have been announced,” said Glover at Monday’s ceremony, per NBC 5.
