Artemis II: Astronauts announced, what’s this about?

Remember that mission to the moon? Well, that was the first mission of 3 from the Artemis program. The second mission is slated for 2024 and a set of four astronauts were announced on Monday.

The first mission was uncrewed and went around the moon in a trip that lasted 25 days. This second mission will also go to a trip around the moon, but with four astronauts. This test flight will be the first one to the Moon since the Apollo mission.

Four astronauts will travel on their first flight aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft going farther into the solar system than humanity has ever traveled before. The mission is set to last 10 days. The Orion capsule will be launched to orbit aboard the Space Launch System in November 2024. This date can be pushed back depending on the time needed to recycle and refurbish components used on Artemis I.

In this mission, astronauts will perform various tests and in-space rendezvous and proximity to the moon operations demonstrations.

Artemis' first crewed mission will have 3 American and 1 Canadian astronaut. The flight commander is G. Reid Wiseman. The mission’s pilot is Victor J. Glover. The Mission Specialist is Christina Kock, and the second mission specialist is Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. This flight will make Hansen’s first flight to space, while the American astronauts have all been to space once each.

This flight will be the last one before the third and final one of the missions that will put astronauts back on the moon in December 2025.

Artemis II is set to launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and return somewhere off the West coast of the United States, close to the Mexico border.