HOUSTON — NASA has named its first astronaut crew bound for the moon in more than 50 years.
The space agency on Monday, April 3, announced the four astronauts who will launch on its Artemis 2 mission(opens in new tab) to fly around the moon. The crew is expected to become the first moon voyagers since the Apollo program.
The Artemis 2 crew includes commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. Hansen is a Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut flying under an agreement between the U.S. and Canada. He will be the first non-American to leave Earth’s orbit and fly to the moon.
The Artemis 2 crew was announced on Monday during an event held at Ellington Field, home to NASA’s aircraft operations located near the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Targeted for launch in late 2024, Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen will lift off aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft atop a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket from Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It will mark the first time that both the capsule and booster will fly with astronauts aboard and only the second launch of both vehicles together after the uncrewed Artemis 1 test flight in 2022.
The 10-day Artemis 2 mission will not orbit or land on the moon but instead follow a hybrid free return trajectory. Orion will use its European-built service module to perform multiple maneuvers to raise its orbit around Earth and eventually place the crew on a lunar free return trajectory in which Earth’s gravity will naturally pull the spacecraft back home after flying by the moon.
Before leaving Earth orbit for the moon, the crew will use the SLS upper stage (called the interim cryogenic propulsion stage, or ICPS) as a target for proximity operations, testing their ability to manually fly Orion.
The crew will also test the spacecraft’s life support, communication, and navigation systems before heading off for the moon. The Artemis 2 crew will come within 6,479 miles (10,427 kilometers) of the lunar surface and travel 6,400 miles (10,300 km) beyond the far side of the moon. From this vantage point — farther than any humans have ever traveled(opens in new tab) into deep space — they will be able to see both Earth and the moon from Orion’s windows(opens in new tab).
The Artemis 2 mission will end with Orion splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California, where U.S. Navy ships and NASA teams will be staged to meet and recover the crew and spacecraft.
A successful flight will set up NASA for Artemis 3, the first mission to return humans to the lunar surface with the first woman and the next American slated to land at the moon’s south pole as soon as late 2025.
Information: https://www.space.com/.
