NASA’s Artemis II crew arrives in Florida for final training ahead of their historic lunar flyby mission, marking a new era in human space exploration.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER: The four astronauts for NASA’s Artemis II mission have arrived in Florida to begin their final launch preparations. Their arrival marks the start of the last phase before the first crewed journey toward the Moon in over 50 years.
NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen flew into the Kennedy Space Center. They will launch aboard NASA’s Space Launch System rocket as soon as April 1.
The crew will travel inside an Orion capsule built for deep space missions. Their 10-day mission will send them on a high-speed loop around the Moon and back to Earth.
Mission commander Reid Wiseman expressed the crew’s readiness after landing. “The nation and the world has been waiting a long time to do this again,” Wiseman told reporters.
He added that the crew “are really pumped to go do this.” Wiseman noted the extensive work leading to this point, saying it was “great to be down here in the Florida warm air.”
Artemis II is the first crewed mission of NASA’s multi-billion-dollar Artemis program. While not attempting a landing, it will send astronauts farther from Earth than any previous human spaceflight.
The mission will rigorously test the Orion spacecraft’s critical systems. This includes its life-support, navigation, communications and heat shield performance.
Major aerospace contractors are integral to the mission. Boeing builds the SLS core stage, Northrop Grumman produces the solid-fuel boosters and Lockheed Martin manufactures the Orion spacecraft.
The crew has trained for over two years since their selection in 2023. They completed a standard preflight quarantine in Houston and will now reside in NASA’s Astronaut Crew Quarters in Florida.
The mission carries significant historic milestones. Victor Glover will become the first Black astronaut to travel to the Moon’s vicinity.
Christina Koch will be the first woman to make the journey. Jeremy Hansen will be the first non-American astronaut to travel beyond low Earth orbit.
All crew members except Hansen have prior spaceflight experience. Wiseman emphasised last year that the crew is prepared for all mission scenarios.
“When we get off the planet, we might come right back home, we might spend three or four days around Earth, we might go to the Moon – that’s where we want to go,” Wiseman said. “But it is a test mission, and we’re ready for every scenario.”
Commander Reid Wiseman is a 50-year-old former U.S. Navy test pilot. He logged 165 days on the International Space Station during a 2014 mission and previously served as NASA’s chief astronaut.
Pilot Victor Glover, 49, spent 168 days in space beginning in 2020. He was pilot of NASA’s Crew-1 mission, the first operational ISS mission using SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule.
Mission specialist Christina Koch, 47, set a record in 2019 for the longest continuous spaceflight by a woman. She spent 328 days aboard the ISS and has a background as an electrical engineer and physicist.
Canadian mission specialist Jeremy Hansen, 50, is preparing for his first spaceflight. Selected as a Canadian astronaut in 2009, his seat reflects the longstanding U.S.-Canadian space partnership.
NASA plans additional Artemis missions in the coming years. The program aims to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon and enable future crewed missions to Mars.