NASA’s next crewed mission toward the Moon, Artemis, will send four astronauts—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian pilot Jeremy Hansen—on a journey that the agency frames as a step toward future lunar landings. The Associated Press description of the crew places Artemis against the backdrop of Apollo, noting that the astronauts chosen this time come from a more diverse astronaut corps than the white, male pilot-influenced cohort of Apollo’s early decades.
Artemis is scheduled to be NASA’s first mission to the Moon in more than half a century, the report said. While the crew will not land on the lunar surface and will not even orbit the Moon, the mission’s round-trip trajectory will take them thousands of kilometers deeper into space than the Apollo missions, providing what the report describes as unprecedented views of the moon’s far side.
Commanding the mission is Reid Wiseman, the report said. Wiseman is the commander for a trip of nearly 10 days, and the report described him as a widower who said that raising his daughters as a single parent—and not traveling to the Moon on a rocket—was his toughest and most rewarding challenge. Wiseman, 50, previously served as chief of astronauts at NASA and is described as having been asked about three years ago to lead what the report calls the first human lunar trip since 1972.
Wiseman said he initially hesitated after the death of his wife, Carroll, in 2020, and that his daughters expressed “zero interest” in him launching again. In the Associated Press account, Wiseman described a conversation in which “Miren, de todas las personas en el planeta Tierra ahora mismo, hay cuatro que están en posición de ir a volar alrededor de la Luna,” and said, “No puedo decir que no a esa oportunidad.” He added that the hard part was not leaving them but “es el estrés que les estoy imponiendo,” and said he has talked with them about everything, including where he keeps his will.
Victor Glover will serve as the mission’s pilot, and the Associated Press account described him as one of the few Black astronauts at NASA. Glover, 49, is described as a former Navy combat pilot from Pomona, California, and as listening to Gil Scott-Heron’s “Whitey on the Moon” and Marvin Gaye’s “Make Me Wanna Holler” for what he said is perspective—“Captura lo que hicimos bien, lo que hicimos mal.” The report also said he sees offering hope to others as “una bendición increíble y un privilegio,” despite having already flown to the space station on an earlier mission.
The crew also includes mission specialist Christina Koch, the report said. Koch, 47, is described as an electrical engineer from Jacksonville, North Carolina, and as holding the record for the longest individual spaceflight by a woman: 328 days. The report said she took part in a 2019 spacewalk mission that was made up only of women, and that her view of Artemis is less about any single person and more about “celebrar el hecho de que hemos llegado a este punto de la historia” in which women can fly to the Moon.
Koch told the Associated Press she is not especially anxious about the trip’s duration because her previous time in space lasted close to a year. In the report, she said she has “inmunizado” much of her family and friends from worry and described how she has reassured her rescue dog, Sadie Lou, by telling it the trip is “solo 10 días,” adding that “No va a ser tan largo como la última vez.” The report also said Koch felt the mission’s length and separation from familiar routines would not be her biggest mental challenge.
Jeremy Hansen, representing Canada, will be the crew’s fourth member, and the report said he is both a pilot and a physicist making his spaceflight debut. Hansen, 50, is described as having grown up on a farm near London, Ontario, before moving to Ingersoll and pursuing a career as a pilot, with the Canadian Space Agency selecting him as an astronaut in 2009 and naming him to the Artemis crew in 2023. Hansen told the Associated Press, “Quizá soy ingenuo, pero no siento mucha presión personal,” and said that as he looks at the Moon now it appears farther away than it used to.
In the account, Hansen also described what he learned about the difficulty of Apollo as he prepared, saying “Ahora entiendo en los detalles cuánto más difícil es de lo que pensaba cuando veía videos.” The report said he shared that message with his university-age son and his twin daughters, telling them, “El resultado más probable es que regresemos a salvo,” while adding, “Existe la posibilidad de que no, y ustedes podrán seguir adelante con su vida incluso si eso ocurre.”