ASTRONAUTS ON ARTEMIS II SAY THEY'RE READY FOR EVERY SCENARIO AS THEY PREPARE FOR THE MOON
NASA announced the astronauts selected for the Artemis II mission, the first crewed trip to the moon in more than 50 years, more than two years ago. The four astronauts—Jeremy Hansen, Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman, and Victor Glover—have since completed extensive training. They are now nearly prepared for takeoff.
The crew revealed that they will fly atop the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket aboard the Orion spacecraft, which has been formally designated Integrity, during a news conference on September 24 at NASA's Johnson Space Centre. Reid Wiseman, commander of Artemis 2, stated, "We're going to launch when this vehicle and this team are ready, and we're going to go execute this mission to the best of our abilities." "It is a test trip, and we are prepared for every situation as we ride this wonderful Space Launch System on the Orion spacecraft, 250,000 miles away." "We might travel to the moon—that's where we want to go." "It's going to be wonderful," he continued.
The astronauts will travel deeper into outer space than ever before with Artemis II. The spacecraft will surpass even Apollo 13's historic 1970 voyage by travelling up to 9,000 miles (14,500 km) beyond the moon. However, breaking records is not what motivates the four astronauts getting ready for the journey. Long-term lunar exploration and science are being made possible by them.
Christina Koch, who recently spoke with Apollo 13 astronaut Fred Haise, recalled him saying, “I heard you’re going to beat our record.” She reflected, “It made me realise maybe he’s paying attention to it more than we are. I think that sometimes when we talk about superlatives, we may inadvertently ignore the real story of what’s going on in our mission.” She added, “It’s about the teamwork and the work that went into that, and the dedication that it took to take on those big challenges.”
NASA now plans to launch Artemis II somewhere between early February and April 26, 2026, after the uncrewed Artemis I test flight in November 2022 had several delays. The Artemis III mission, which will bring the first humans to explore the lunar South Pole region, will be made possible by the 10-day trip. "It is a true privilege," Jeremy Hansen declared. For us, returning to the moon is only one aspect of Artemis II. It has to do with striving for greatness.