Highlights from NASA’s unveiling of the Artemis II lunar astronauts

Astronauts in 2023 are very different from those when the United States was in a race to beat the Soviet Union to the moon. During the Apollo program, 24 astronauts flew to the moon and 12 of them stepped onto the surface. They were all Americans. They were all white men, many of whom were test pilots.

This time around, the astronaut corps reflects a much broader segment of society.

They are Reid Wiseman, the mission commander; Victor Glover, the pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and Jeremy Hansen, also a mission specialist. The first three are NASA astronauts, while Mr. Hansen is a member of the Canadian Space Agency.

“When we selected astronauts at the time,” Mr Glover said in an interview, “we intended to select the same person, just multiple ones.”

Ms. Koch will be the first woman to venture beyond low Earth orbit, and Mr. Hansen, as a Canadian, the first non-American to travel that far.

“So am I excited?” Ms. Koch said at a crew unveiling event at Ellington Field, a small airfield used by NASA for astronaut training. “Absolutely. But my real question is, are you excited?”

The assembled crowd cheered in response.

The mission is an important step in NASA’s Artemis program to send astronauts back to the moon’s surface to explore the cold regions near the moon’s south pole. Water ice found in deep dark craters could provide water and oxygen for future astronauts, as well as fuel for missions deeper into space.

“Together we go – to the moon, to Mars and beyond,” said Bill Nelson, the NASA administrator.

But the four astronauts aboard this next mission, Artemis II, will not land on the moon.

Instead, the travelers will embark on a 10-day journey that will swing around the moon and return to Earth. It is now scheduled for the end of next year.

“It’s an exciting time for the Artemis people, there’s no doubt about that,” Harrison Schmitt, the last surviving astronaut from Apollo 17, said in an interview. He added that many people didn’t fully realize that we’re about three generations away from any experience of human beings in deep space, and that’s probably the most important part of the mission.

Dr. Schmitt, who is also a former U.S. Senator from New Mexico, said he wasn’t necessarily surprised it had taken this long. “I would say I’m disappointed,” he said. “A lot of things conspired to stop the Apollo program and keep us from going back for a while.”

Mr Hansen noted that the United States could have undertaken the Artemis missions alone, but instead chose to cooperate international cooperation with Canada and the European Space Agency. That agreement reserved a seat for a Canadian astronaut on Artemis II. “All of Canada is grateful for that global mindset and leadership,” said Mr. Hansen.

Mr Glover, who was the first black man to serve as a crew member on the International Space Station, said diversity was “an important goal of the agency and our partners”.

“But it would also happen organically because of the corps we have that represents America so well,” he said.

As the name of the mission implies, Artemis II will be the second in NASA’s Artemis program. Artemis I launched last November as an unmanned test of the Space Launch System, NASA’s giant new rocket and Orion astronaut capsule. The Orion spacecraft spent two weeks in orbit around the moon before returning to Earth and crashing into the Pacific Ocean.

After years of delays—the rocket’s development took longer than originally promised—the Artemis I mission went largely smoothly, although some problems arose. Orion’s heat shield protected the spacecraft during reentry into Earth’s atmosphere, but more came loose than expected.

Artemis II, with four astronauts on board, will allow full control of Orion’s life support systems. Then NASA officials will feel more confident about carrying out the longer, more complex Artemis III mission, which will land two astronauts near the South Pole.

Mr. Wiseman, Mr. Glover, and Ms. Koch all said they were not disappointed that being part of Artemis II’s crew precludes the possibility of walking on the moon during Artemis III.

“This is probably going to sound cliche,” said Mr. Wiseman, “but just flying on one of these missions is a huge thing. It’s fantastic. I like the idea of ​​going beyond the moon.

He added: “It will be a success for us to see our fellow astronauts walk on the moon.”

After a long afternoon of interviews with reporters, the four astronauts left the Johnson Space Center, escorted by police escort, to Houston’s NRG Stadium to attend the NCAA men’s basketball game between the University of Connecticut and San Diego State University .

NASA is currently aiming for that first moon landing in late 2025, but the NASA inspector general has predicted that the mission would shift to 2026 or later. The Artemis III mission will require the use of Starship – the giant spacecraft being developed by SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket company – to take the two astronauts from distant lunar orbit to the surface. Starship’s first test launch to space could begin in the coming weeks.

In the 1960s, the space race mirrored the geopolitical sparring between the United States and the Soviet Union. Once the race was won, interest in the moon waned among the public, politicians, and even NASA.

There are also some geopolitical echoes this time around. China also aims to send astronauts to the moon in the coming years. But it’s not just governments aiming for the moon right now.

Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese billionaire, has purchased a journey on Starship that would make a loop around the Moon, similar to the trajectory Artemis II will travel. Dennis Tito, an entrepreneur who became the first space tourist to visit the International Space Station in 2001, and his wife, Akiko, have booked seats on a separate Starship voyage around the moon.

Five decades ago, that would have been like a billionaire buying a Saturn V, the rocket that propelled the Apollo astronauts to the moon.

Today, it seems almost inevitable that tourist footprints will criss-cross the lunar surface for years to come.

In an interview, Chris Hadfield, a Canadian astronaut who retired in 2013 after three trips to space, compared space travel to the early days of aviation. The wobbly craft the Wright brothers built in 1903 flew, but barely. But progress was rapid. The first flight for KLM, the Dutch airline, was in 1920.

“Seventeen years from the Wright Brothers to a profitable airline that still exists today,” said Mr. Hadfield.

He added that innovation had significantly reduced the cost of leaving Earth.

“You can see costs will continue to come down as the vehicles become more proven, and that will increase access and opportunity,” said Mr. Hadfield.

For the Artemis II astronauts, Dr. Schmitt some simple advice: “Just enjoy it,” he said.

Vyosa Isai And Jesus Jimenez reporting contributed.