NASA and the Canadian Space Agency announced the four astronauts who will venture around the Moon on Artemis II: Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist 1 Christina Hammock Koch, and Mission Specialist 2 Jeremy Hansen.
The flight, after the successful uncrewed Artemis I mission completed in December, will set the stage for the first woman and first person of color on the Moon through the Artemis program, paving the way for future for long-term human exploration missions to the Moon, and eventually Mars.
The 10-day Artemis II 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. The Artemis II mission will end with Orion splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California. A successful flight will set up NASA for Artemis III, the first mission to return humans to the lunar surface.
