NASA Announces Astronauts For First Man Moon Mission in over 50 Years
On Monday, NASA presented the crew for its first human journey to the Moon in over 50 years, which will include the first woman and Black man to travel to deep space.
NASA began by absorbing the earlier National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), including its 8,000 employees, an annual budget of $100 million, three major research laboratories – the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory in Virginia
Within months of its creation, NASA began to conduct space missions, and over the last 50 years has undertaken spectacular programs in human spaceflight, robotic spaceflight, and aeronautics research.
looking back after 50 years, we can distinguish several eras of human spaceflight at NASA. The first era can be broadly termed the Apollo moon race era. President John F. Kennedy’s challenge on May 25, 1961 of “achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth,”
Next year’s Artemis II mission around the Moon will be staffed by Christina Koch, a NASA astronaut who currently holds the record for the longest solo spaceflight by a woman.
The Orion spacecraft will orbit the Moon in November 2024, with NASA’s naval aviator Victor Glover serving as the craft’s pilot. He will make history as the first Black person to participate in a lunar mission.
Jeremy Hansen, a 47-year-old former fighter pilot who is currently with the Canadian Space Agency, and veteran NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, who is the mission commander, complete the team.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson praised the diverse crew, stating that “with flying experience ranging from fighter pilots to Marine Corps test pilots, this crew is well-suited to take on this important mission.
The Artemis II mission is part of a larger effort to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon by the end of the decade, with NASA planning to establish a lunar outpost and conduct regular crewed missions to the Moon
