Artemis II Makes Space History
NASA's Artemis II mission will send the first Black and first female astronauts to the Moon, marking a milestone in both space exploration and representation. This continues NASA's commitment to diversity in its highest-profile missions as the agency pushes toward establishing a lunar base.
The Artemis II crew consists of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman (Commander), Victor Glover (Pilot), Christina Koch (Mission Specialist), and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen (Mission Specialist). Glover will be the first person of color, Koch the first woman, and Hansen the first non-American to fly a lunar mission. This roughly 10-day flight will be the first time humans have journeyed beyond low-Earth orbit since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The mission's primary objective is to test the life-support, communication, and navigation systems of the Orion spacecraft in a deep space environment with astronauts on board. The crew will guide the Orion capsule on a flyby, looping around the far side of the Moon before returning to Earth. They will travel farther from Earth than any human in history before reentering the atmosphere at speeds of approximately 25,000 miles per hour. All three NASA astronauts are spaceflight veterans. Koch holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman at 328 days and participated in the first all-female spacewalk. Glover piloted the first operational crewed flight of SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft. For Hansen, a former fighter pilot, this will be his first time in space. NASA's astronaut corps was composed exclusively of white men until 1978, when the first six women and three African American men were selected. In 1983, Guion Bluford became the first African American in space, and Sally Ride became the first American woman in space. Artemis II is a critical test for future, more complex missions. The overarching Artemis program aims to establish a long-term human presence on the Moon, including a permanent base and an orbiting lunar space station known as the Gateway, which will serve as a staging point for eventual missions to Mars.
