Artemis II's lunar quartet of astronauts break the Apollo mold

Every single person who has flown to the moon has been a man. All of them have been white. Each one has been an American.

That’s about to change.

The crew of Artemis II, gunning for a launch from Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday evening, features what would be the first Black man, first woman and first person from a country other than the United States to ever fly past low-Earth orbit.

The crew of NASA astronauts — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen — aim to climb aboard the Orion spacecraft sitting atop the Space Launch System rocket and blast off from KSC during a two-hour window that opens at 6:24 p.m.

Space Launch Delta 45’s weather squadron forecasts an 80% chance for good conditions at the launch site.

If the launch goes off, the quartet will have a 10-day mission that will fly by, but not land on, the moon. The flight plan calls for Orion to remain close to Earth for one day to ensure the spacecraft — carrying humans on board for the first time — is safe enough to make the lunar trip.

The crew will fly by the moon on the sixth day of the mission, coming within 4,000 to 6,000 miles of the surface and possibly surpassing the record set by Apollo 13 in 1970 for the farthest distance from the Earth ever traveled by humans, at 248,655 miles from home.

Pilot Victor Glover, who is Black, was born in Pomona, Calif., and holds the rank of captain in the U.S. Navy, where he had been a test pilot before being chosen as part of NASA’s 2013 class of astronaut candidates. This is the 49-year-old’s second trip to space, having piloted Crew-1 in 2020, the first operational SpaceX mission to the space station.

His nickname, which he has embraced, is IKE, which stands for “I Know Everything.”

Glover acknowledged the power of seeing diversity among the astronaut corps and the gravity of this endeavor. But he also highlighted the tension it creates, saying he looked forward to a future where it’s not just some entry on a Wikipedia page.

“A young woman can look at Christina and just physicalize her passion or her interest — or even if it’s not something she wants to do, she can just be like, ‘girl power,’ and that’s awesome,” Glover said. “Young brown boys and girls can look at me and go, ‘Hey, he looks like me, and he’s doing what?’ And that’s great. I love that.”

But, he added, “I also hope we are pushing the other direction. That one day we don’t have to talk about these firsts, that one day this is just … human history. It’s the story of humanity, not Black history, not women’s history, but that it becomes human history.”

Koch, 47, was born in Grand Rapids, Mich., and is Glover’s 2013 astronaut classmate. During her fist trip to space, a Soyuz mission to the space station in 2019, she already made history joining fellow NASA astronaut Jessica Meir to perform the first all-female spacewalk.

Now, the mission specialist is set to break the glass ceiling for women again during her second trip to space.

“Although it is something to celebrate — a bunch of firsts — that’s definitely not necessarily telling the whole story, and it’s also not about celebrating any one individual,” Koch said. “If there is something to celebrate, it’s that we were are at a time when everyone who has a dream gets to work equally hard to achieve that dream.”

She added that spaceflight should be for everyone, otherwise “we aren’t truly answering all of humanity’s call to explore. That, to me, is what’s worth celebrating.”

NASA’s third crew member, Commander Reid Wiseman, happens to fit the mold of all previous astronauts who flew to the moon from 1968 to 1972 as a white, male American. He said that while the crew isn’t flying the mission to knock out superlatives, it’s a unique opportunity.

“We are going for all and by all, this is what NASA embodies,” he said. “This is what the space program around the world embodies, and we’re proud to be a part of that journey.”

Wiseman, 50, was born in Baltimore and had a career as a naval aviator and test pilot before being chosen as an astronaut candidate in 2009. This will also be his second trip to space, having launched on a Soyuz for a long-term stay on board the International Space Station in 2014.

“Each one of the four of us, we carry a whole lifetime of experiences,” he said. “The way I was raised as a child is different than the way they were raised. The different influences on our lives, different mentors, different heroes, different interests. … For me, it’s just an honor to get to watch the way everybody brings their unique perspectives.”

Rounding out the crew is mission specialist and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, who will become the first person not from the U.S. to travel to the moon.

Hansen, 50, was born in London, Ontario, and has yet to fly to space, having been chosen alongside the 2009 NASA class of astronauts. He holds the rank of colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

“Yes, a Canadian is going to go into deep space. That’s an extraordinary thing because of the American space leadership that curated that,” he said. “But I hope others outside of Canada feel part of this too, because this is just an acknowledgment [that] anybody who shows up and is able to contribute something meaningful to our future endeavors can be part of this mission.”

Hansen said talking to people not just from all across Canada, but from beyond North America, has broadened his perspective as an astronaut.

“It’s not just three Americans and a Canadian, it is people literally around the world, and it’s a beautiful thing,” he said. “We’re going to go do something very real, very challenging, and that’s what will make it inspiring.”

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