The Canadian Space Agency selected him as an astronaut in 2009, and he was named a crew member of Artemis in 2023. Only now does he realize how much effort it took to send men to the Moon during the Apollo program. “When I go out and look at the Moon now, it looks and feels a little farther away than it used to be,” he expressed. This time they will not land on the satellite or even orbit it, but the round trip will take them thousands of kilometers deeper into space than the Apollo astronauts ventured, and promises unprecedented views of the far side of the moon. This is a look at the Artemis astronauts whose mission seeks to pave the way for future moon landings: Commander Reid Wiseman. The head of the nearly 10-day mission is a widower who considers raising children alone, not traveling to the Moon in a rocket, his greatest and most rewarding challenge. Wiseman, 50, a retired Navy captain from Baltimore, was serving as chief of astronauts for NASA when he was asked three years ago to lead humanity's first lunar voyage since 1972. Pilot Victor Glover. Glover, one of NASA's few African American astronauts, sees his presence in the mission as “a force for good.” The 49-year-old Navy captain and former fighter pilot from Pomona, California, is in the habit of listening to “Whitey on the Moon” by Gil Scott-Heron and “Make Me Wanna Holler” by Marvin Gaye from the Apollo era, which was dominated by whites. “I listen to them for perspective,” he commented. Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency. The Canadian fighter pilot and physicist is making his rather stressful space debut, but he is also acting as his country's first envoy to the Moon. “Maybe I'm naive, but I don't feel much personal pressure.” Hansen, 50, grew up on a farm near London, Ontario, before moving to Ingersoll and pursuing a career as a pilot. The crucial moon landing would come later, in 2028, with another group of astronauts. Artemis II: Victor Glover and Reid Wiseman, Pilot and Mission Commander, speaking with the media upon their arrival at the Kennedy Space Center. Mission Specialist Christina Koch. The last time Koch flew into space, she was gone for nearly a year, so she isn't worried about a quick round trip to the Moon. The 47-year-old electrical engineer from Jacksonville, North Carolina, holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman: 328 days. The hardest part isn't leaving them, but “it's the stress I'm putting on them,” she explained. Wiseman openly talks to his daughters about everything, so he recently told them where he keeps his will. “We are about to make history 🌕✨”. Reid Wiseman (@astro_reid), a NASA astronaut and mission commander of NASA's Artemis II, is part of the crew that will usher in a new era of space travel. He participated in the first all-female spacewalk during his extended stay on the space station in 2019. “It's less about any one person in particular, and more about celebrating the fact that we've reached this point in history” where women can fly to the Moon, she affirmed. Before NASA called on her, Koch spent a year at a research station in the South Pole. This first Artemis crew includes a woman, a person of color, and a Canadian, the product of a more diverse corps of astronauts. None of them were even born during NASA's famed Apollo program, which sent 24 astronauts to the Moon, including 12 moonwalkers. His four daughters range from late teens to twenties, “and I spend as much time and reflection preparing them as NASA spends preparing me.” He is fully focused on running “our best race to be able to pass the baton to the next leg”: a docking practice mission in 2027 in Earth orbit between a crewed Orion capsule and one or two lunar landing modules. Between that and her time in space, she feels she has “inoculated” most of her family and friends. “So far, I haven't noticed too much nervousness in people. There is a possibility that it won't, and you can go on with your life even if that happens,” she assured them. Here they are! Despite already having a spaceflight in his history — an early SpaceX crew mission to the International Space Station — he is on new personal ground. “I can't say no to that opportunity.” The next day, he was greeted with homemade moon-shaped rolls, along with the support of his daughters. “Now I understand in detail how much harder it is than I thought when I was watching videos.” Dangers still lurk, something he has shared with his college-aged son and his twin daughters. We present the astronauts of #ArtemisII: Reid Wiseman (@astro_reid) Victor Glover (@AstroVicGlover) Christina Koch (@Astro_Christina) Jeremy Hansen (@Astro_Jeremy) Read more: [link removed]. “Capture what we did well, what we did wrong.” The possibility of offering hope to others now is “an incredible blessing and a privilege.” The death of his wife, Carroll, from cancer in 2020 made him doubt. In 2014, he spent more than five months on the International Space Station, and his two teenage daughters, especially the older one, had “zero interest” in him flying again. “We talked and I said, ‘Look, out of all the people on planet Earth right now, there are four who are in a position to go fly around the Moon’,” he recounted. “The most likely outcome is we'll come back safe. It's not going to be as long as the last one.” The new issue of TIME features exclusive interviews with the Artemis II astronauts—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen. “Maybe my dog, but I've calmed her down by telling her it's only for 10 days.” CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida, USA.
