It was July 20th, 1969 when NASA made their groundbreaking moment of landing on the moon for the first time. It has gone down as being one of if not the biggest moments in the history of the space industry. The crew consisted of the famed Neil Armstrong, the first man to make the step, and his pilot Buzz Aldrin. Now, more than 50 years later, NASA has plans to launch a mission to return humanity to the moon.
NASA first introduced their Artemis missions in 2020 but gave more detail into their Artemis II mission on April 3, 2023 when they announced their crew for the planned expedition. Before I introduce the crew, I want to discuss what exactly the Artemis II mission is striving to do.
Artemis II will send four astronauts to the moon for the first time aboard NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft capsule, which have been designed for the exploration of space deeper than we’ve ever gone before.
The 8 to 10-day mission will include exploring new territories of space that we have not seen and making great scientific discoveries that will retrieve the information needed for any possible future missions, including the ever-so-popular planned Mars mission. Launching from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the trip will begin with a 2-day check of Orion’s systems, while also conducting a target test near Earth before making the journey to the moon.
One of the biggest pieces of news with the announcement of this operation is that Artemis II is sending the first person of color and the first woman on this mission. With Black History Month just ending and Women’s History Month just beginning, this information is perfectly fitting.
The crew consists of four astronauts who have bravely stepped up to become the first humans to explore new frontiers in deep space. They are Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen. They began their training in June of 2023 primarily at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Here, they train in an Orion capsule simulator and work on a mock of the hardware for the spacecraft. They also train at a secondary location at the Kennedy Space Center where they work on integration.
The crew met with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House to discuss their mission and innovation of the Artemis missions. Most recently, they completed practice training for their return mission, joined by the U.S. Navy, which is set to land off the California coast when returning.
Currently, Artemis II is set to launch no earlier than September 2025. However, this date has already been postponed from a previous November 2024 date and is expected to be delayed a few more times before retrieving an actual final date for launch. All of the space fans out there (including me) are eagerly anticipating the launch of this mission and know that it will be worth it. It will take us to a brand new place that is completely open for discovery and who knows what will be discovered.
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