NASA, along with the Canadian Space Agency, has named the four astronauts that will be the next group to head to the moon as a part of Artemis II. A North Carolina State University graduate is going to be one of them.
Christina Hammock Koch — an astronaut since 2013 — has already set a record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman with 328 days in space. The graduate from North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham, who spent part of her childhood in Jacksonville, North Carolina, also participated in the first all-female spacewalk. She served as a flight engineer on the International Space Station for Expeditions 59 through 61.
“I’m ready to try and make everyone proud, and to really fulfill what this mission means to all of humanity,” Koch said in a promotional video put out by NASA. “I hope to be someone on the crew who really is that engineering expert, and I hope that is the way that I can contribute the most.”
Koch will be joined by Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Jeremy Hansen. The 10-day flight will launch the Space Launch System rocket, demonstrate the Orion spacecraft’s life-support systems and show what humans need to live and work in deep space, NASA said in a news release.
Glover, a pilot, represents the first person of color on a lunar mission. Director Vanessa Wyche said. Koch will be the first woman on a lunar mission, and Hansen, the first Canadian.
“The Artemis II crew represents thousands of people working tirelessly to bring us to the stars. This is their crew, this is our crew, this is humanity's crew,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
This will be the first crewed mission to the moon since Apollo 17 back in 1972. Crew members Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt spent more than 70 hours on the moon as a part of a 12-day trip.
Last year, Artemis I marked the return of human’s exploration of the moon. That mission was to demonstrate Orion’s systems in spaceflight, and ensure a safe return to Earth.