Artemis, here is the crew that will fly to the moon
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Here they are, finally: the four astronauts heading to the Moon after more than fifty years. They are the mission specialists Christina Koch, American and the Canadian Jeremy Hansen, the pilot Victor Glover and the commander Gregory Reid Wiseman. In 2024 they will take off for the first historic human mission to our satellite since 1972, when Commander Eugene Cernan left his last footprint on the regolith of the Mare Serenitatis. The American and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) today presented the crew of the Artemis II mission, in the Johnson Space Center’s Ellington Field in Houston. Three Americans and the first non-American to get this far from Earth. And if Artemis III promises to bring the first woman and the first black person to walk on the surface, with Koch and Glover it has already taken a step in that direction, bringing the first woman and the first African American to fly around it. After the success of Artemis I, the unmanned expedition of 2022, there will now be someone looking out the porthole, but without getting off.
The NASA mission
Space, Artemis 1 in the story: the rocket is headed for the Moon
Dozens of astronauts were present at the ceremony, including from space agencies around the world that collaborate with NASA on the International Space Station and to build the Lunar Gateway, including the Italian Luca Parmitano, from ESA. To testify that this too is a historic moment. It was the NASA administrator who announced their names: “We chose to go back to the Moon to get to Mars to acquire new knowledge, it’s our DNA, it’s who we are. To explore, to discover, to dream. To the Moon, Mars and beyond.” Each of the astronauts took the floor to tell the meaning of this new “great leap”. Brilliant as DJs, they ignited the enthusiasm of the children with the dream come true, to return to the Moon, driven by the wind of the words that Kennedy uttered over 60 years ago, and of the first pioneers: “We are going!”.
IMG: Koch – American astronaut Christina Koch
The crew
Christina Hammock Koch, 44, is an engineer and physicist. A long career at NASA, culminating in 2019 with the first mission in orbit on the International Space Station. With Expeditions 59, 60 and 61, she set the record for continuous stay in space for a woman: 328 days. She went outside six times for extravehicular activities, for a total of 42 hours.
IMG Hansen – Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen
Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, born in 1976, is the only “rookie”. He technically he wouldn’t have astronaut “wings” yet. A lieutenant colonel in the Canadian Air Force, a 1999 graduate of Space Sciences, he was selected in his country’s class of new astronauts in 2009.
IMG Glover – US astronaut Victor Glover
Victor J. Glover, NASA astronaut, 47, has instead already flown, in 2020, aboard the first operational mission of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, towards the ISS: Crew-1, second manned flight for the shuttle that the aerospace company by Elon Musk uses for the astronaut transport service for NASA. Captain in the United States Navy, military pilot, has logged over 3,000 flight hours in 40 different aircraft.
IMG Wiseman – American astronaut Reid Wiseman
The commander, Reid Wiseman born in 1975, is also a captain in the Navy, he was in space in 2014 with Expeditions 40/41 for 165 days, performing two extravehicular activities outside the International Space Station, for a total of 12 hours . He has a degree in computer and systems engineering and served as the head of NASA’s Astronaut office.
IMG: Artemis_II_step-by-step: The path of the Artemis II mission – Credits: Nasa
The journey, 10 days to the Moon and back
The route will be similar to that undertaken by Artemis I, but for a total of ten days. The take-off will take place on top of the Space launch system, currently the most powerful rocket in activity. After a couple of orbits around the Earth, the Orion, powered by the thrusters of the European service module, supplied by the European Space Agency (ESA), will begin the cruise phase towards the Moon which will last about four days. The flyby of the Moon will be a fleeting passage, Orion will skim past it, moving away in an elliptical orbit exceeding it by more than 10,000 kilometers. From the farthest point, the crew will be able to admire the Moon and the Earth from the portholes in a single view. And it will be precisely the lunar gravity that will bring the capsule back, as if tied to a slingshot, to put it back on the right course towards the Earth.
Interview
“Artemis 1? A success. And soon we will announce the crew of Artemis 2”
by Antonio Lo Campo
The main objective is to test astronaut life and activity support systems in an environment very different from that of the International Space Station. We are in deep space, beyond Earth’s orbit and far from the protection of its magnetic field, so it will be an important test moment for shielding from cosmic radiation. And far, physically, from home. Once it has accelerated to head for the Moon it means that, in case of an emergency, it must be reached, circled and returned. Like Apollo 13 did. You can’t just spin and back up. To this end, writes NASA, all systems will be tested and “stressed”. Starting with the engine of the Orion capsule, the European ESM, which in addition to propulsion, houses the oxygen, water and vital systems tanks.
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