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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced the first batch of astronauts that will fly around the Moon as part of the agency's Artemis 2 mission. NASA's Artemis 2 is expected to take to the skies next year, and it will see the crew fly inside the Orion spacecraft in a lunar orbit before returning to Earth. The crew unveiled today includes astronauts who have flown to space before, and the space agency was joined by officials of the Canadian Space Agency as part of today's announcement. NASA Administrator Bil Nelson announced the crew to members of the press and other guests at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

NASA Selects Fresh Crew of Astronauts For Maiden Spaceflight

As it announced the crew for the Artemis 2 mission, the space agency is already making progress with the rocket that will fly them to the Moon. After launching the SLS last year as part of a highly anticipated test flight, NASA has already assembled the rocket's core stage that will power the Artemis 2 mission. NASA teams joined the rocket's engine section to the four other sections of the center core in mid-March. Following this, teams will mate the rocket's massive RS-25 engines to the engine stage and then prepare to complete the vehicle by adding the two solid rocket boosters.

The four astronauts selected for flying the Artemis 2 mission are Christina Koch, Jeremy Hansen, Victor Glover, and Gregory Wiseman. Koch will be a mission specialist, Glovter will be its pilot, Hansen, another specialist and Wiseman will command the crew for their maiden voyage around the Moon. Not all of the crew selected have spaceflight experience.

Koch has spent more than 328 days outside the Earth, Glover spent more than five months on the International Space Station (ISS) as part of SpaceX's Crew-1 mission and NASA's Expedition 64/65 and Weisman took the skies on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft in 2014. On the other hand, the Artemis 2 mission will mark Hansen - an astronaut of the Canadian Space Agency - fly outside Earth for the first time. Koch is the most experienced astronaut on the crew, with the Artemis 2 mission being her third spaceflight.

(Feb. 1, 2021) --- NASA astronaut Victor Glover is pictured during a spacewalk to complete battery upgrade work on the outside of the International Space Station with fellow NASA astronaut Michael Hopkins (out of frame). Image: NASA JSC

Addressing the crow as part of his selection speech, Glover stated:

Wow, what a day. And look at all of this. This is amazing, isn't it? I mean after all of that, I feel like Denzel Washington should be up here talking to you. But you just got us. I want to thank God this amazing opportunity. And I think I speak for all of us, I want to thank our families for the amazing support. It is your love and support that has made this journey possible. Please give them a round of applause. And to all of the folks who made this celebration possible, thank you for your hard work. They are the real ones in here sweating with all of us. But 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. We need to celebrate this moment in human history. Because Artemis 2 is more than a mission to the Moon and back. It's more than a mission that has to happen before we send people to the surface of the Moon.

It is the next step on the journey that gets humanity to Mars. Yeah you can clap for that. That's real. And this crew will never forget that. Now we have a lot of work to do before we get there. And we understand that. And when talking about that work you may often hear people say, human spaceflight is a marathon, not a sprint. But we have watched the people that worked so hard to make our mission possible, and I can tell you it is a series of sprints that's called a relay race. Human spaceflight is like a relay race, and that baton has been passed generation to generation and from crewmember to crewmember. From the Gemini, Mercury-Gemini, Apollo, Apollo-Soyuz, Skylab, Mir, the Shuttle, International Space Station, Commercial Crew, and now the Artemis missions. And we understand our role in that. And when we have the privilege of having that baton, we're gonna do our best to run a good race, to make you proud.

After Glover returned from the space station in 2021, he shared more details about the importance of the mission to Mars exploration with actor Tom Cruise, leaving him stunned by the experience of flying SpaceX's Crew Dragon to and from the space station and performing spacewalks.

Astronaut Hansen appreciated America's "deliberate choice" to form a global team for lunar exploration, expressing his and Canada's gratitude for the decision. He added that Canada is a crucial part of the international partnership to make space exploration possible, and this has led to his journey to the Moon.

Astronaut Koch stressed that her mission is an important part of the Artemis mission since the crew will be the first to test the spacecraftaround the Moon before future missions attempt a landing. Astronauts will land on the Moon with SpaceX's Starship lunar lander. Commander Wiseman thanked all the participants, the politicians, NASA teams and others. He also made a special shoutout to astronaut Frank Rubio who is currently on the space station as part of a record-setting stay.