Factbox-Artemis II crew includes first woman, Black astronaut and Canadian ever flown to moon
Factbox-Artemis II crew includes first woman, Black astronaut and Canadian ever flown to moon

April 1 (Reuters) - All three NASA astronauts on the Artemis II lunar mission are veterans of Earth-orbit science expeditions to the International Space Station, while ‌the lone Canadian joining them on a voyage around the moon and ‌back is a spaceflight rookie.

Here are some highlights from the careers of mission commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor ​Glover and mission specialist Christina Koch, all U.S. astronauts, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, also a mission specialist.

MISSION COMMANDER REID WISEMAN

Wiseman, 50, logged 165 days aboard the International Space Station during a 2014 mission, flying to the orbiting platform aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. A ‌former U.S. Navy test pilot, ⁠he later served as NASA's chief astronaut before being selected to command Artemis II.

PILOT VICTOR GLOVER

Glover, 49, spent 168 days in orbit ⁠beginning in 2020 as pilot of NASA's Crew-1 flight, the first full-fledged ISS mission using SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule to carry astronauts to the space station. Before joining NASA, he flew ​more than ​40 aircraft during a U.S. Navy career ​that included combat deployments and test-pilot ‌duties. A veteran of four spacewalks, he is the first Black astronaut ever to be sent on a lunar mission.

MISSION SPECIALIST CHRISTINA KOCH

Koch, 47, set a record in 2019 for the longest continuous spaceflight by a woman, spending 328 days aboard the ISS, and was part of NASA's first three all-female spacewalks. Trained as an electrical engineer and ‌physicist, she previously worked as a NASA engineer ​and carried out extended research expeditions in Antarctica. She ​is the first woman to ​fly on a moon-bound mission.

MISSION SPECIALIST JEREMY HANSEN

Hansen, 50, a Royal Canadian ‌Air Force colonel, is the first ​Canadian, and first non-U.S. ​citizen, sent on a lunar mission even as he makes his own first spaceflight. He was selected for Canada's astronaut corps in 2009, and his seat ​aboard Artemis II reflects a ‌long-standing U.S.–Canadian partnership in human spaceflight, including Canada's contributions to robotics used aboard ​the ISS.

(Compiled by Joey Roulette in Cape Canaveral, Florida and Steve Gorman ​in Los Angeles; Editing by Jamie Freed)

この記事をシェア