A woman and an African Americanmembers of the Artemis II mission, In 2024 they will travel around the moon for the first time.NASA reported on Monday and released the names of the four crew members.

It’s three NASA astronauts, Reid Wiseman (commander), Victor Glover (pilot, African American), and Christina Kochwho have spent time on the International Space Station (ISS), as well as Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), who will make his first flight into space.

Although Artemis II will not land on the moon, With this mission, trips to the Moon will resume after half a centuryas part of an ambitious project to establish a lasting human presence on the lunar surface in the medium term and eventually launch a journey to Mars.

cook, 44, an electrical engineer who took part in the first all-female spacewalks on the ISSwill be the first woman to fly around the moon.

“I’m excited? Absolute. But my real question is, are you excited? And I ask why I’m so happy that we’re bringing your enthusiasm, your aspirations and your dreams on this Artemis II mission,” Koch told an enthusiastic audience in a hangar at Ellington Airport, which serves NASA’s Johnson Space. Center in Houston, Texas.

As part of the Artemis program, NASA aims to send astronauts to the moon’s surface with the Artemis III mission in 2025, more than five decades after the end of the historic Apollo missions in 1972.

“A Message to the World”

The four astronauts, dressed in blue flight suits, were introduced by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “The largest and most powerful rocket in the world will propel you into the sky,” he said.

“It is a message to the world. We chose to go back to the moon and then to Mars and we will do it together. Because NASA is exploring the cosmos in the 21st century with international partners,” Nelson said.

Wiseman, 47, a U.S. Navy fighter pilot who previously served as NASA’s chief astronaut, has been named commander of the Artemis II mission, scheduled to launch in November 2024 with the crew orbiting the moon.

The commander thanked “the incredible political support” they have received in this mission, which will serve “to unite our country, unite the whole world, explore to reach Mars and beyond.”

For Wiseman, it’s “incredibly important” to have a woman and an African American on the crew. Speaking to AFP, he clarified that all members are “exceptional and professional operators”.

Glover, 46, also a Navy aviator and the first African-American man to spend time as a crew member on the ISS, will pilot the flight.

“I pray that we can continue to serve as a source of inspiration for cooperation and peace, not only between nations, but also within our own nation,” he said.

Koch, the only female on the Artemis II crew, and Hansen, a 47-year-old fighter pilot in the Canadian Forces, will serve as mission specialists.

To Mars in 2040

Nelson, the head of NASA, has said he expects a manned mission to Mars by 2040. The 10-day Artemis II mission will test NASA’s powerful Space Launch System rocket, as well as life support systems aboard the Orion spacecraft.

The first Artemis flight ended in December with an unmanned Orion capsule safely returning to Earth after a 25-day journey around the moon.

During the journey around the orbiting satellite and back, Orion covered more than a million miles (1.6 million kilometers) and went farther from our planet than any spacecraft prepared to carry a crew. transport.

Only 12 people, all white males, have walked on the moon.

“This is about more than just going back to the moon, this is about investing in the future, this is about opportunity, this is about seizing the opportunities of this space economy, from health to food security to climate change and so much more. ”, considered Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, François-Philippe Champagne, present at the ceremony.