Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo and moon goddess in Greek mythology.
NASA chose her to embody their path back to the moon, which will see astronauts return to the lunar surface by 2025 – including the first woman and the next man.
Artemis 1, formerly Exploration Mission-1, is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration of the Moon and Mars.
Artemis 1 will be the first integrated flight test of NASA’s space exploration system: the Orion spacecraft, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the ground systems at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Artemis 1 will be an unmanned flight that will provide a basis for human exploration of space and demonstrate our commitment and ability to extend human existence to the Moon and beyond.
During this flight, the spacecraft will launch the world’s most powerful rocket and fly further than any human-made spacecraft has ever flown.
It will travel 280,000 miles (450,600 km) from Earth, thousands of miles beyond the moon, over the course of a roughly three-week mission.
Artemis 1, formerly Exploration Mission-1, is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration of the Moon and Mars. This graphic explains the different phases of the mission
Orion will stay in space longer than any astronaut spacecraft without docking with a space station, and return home faster and hotter than ever.
With this first reconnaissance mission, NASA is taking the next steps in human exploration into space, where astronauts will build and begin testing near-lunar systems necessary for missions to the lunar surface and exploration of other, more distant targets, including of Mars, are needed.
This will put the crew on a different trajectory and test Orion’s critical systems with humans on board.
Together, Orion, SLS and Kennedy’s ground systems will be able to meet the most demanding requirements for crew and cargo missions in space.
Finally, as a result of the Artemis mission, NASA wants to establish a sustainable human presence on the moon by 2028.
The space agency hopes this colony will uncover new scientific discoveries, demonstrate new technological advances, and lay the groundwork for private companies to build a lunar economy.
Who is Victor Glover? The man is set to become NASA’s first black astronaut to orbit the moon
Victor Glover (pictured) was selected as an astronaut in 2013 and seven years later became the first African-American ISS expeditionary crew member to live on the ISS
NASA sends the first-ever black astronaut to the moon.
Victor Glover, 46, has been selected to take part in the space agency’s Artemis II mission – the US’s first lunar mission in half a century.
The Pomona, California native will be the first black person to travel into space, hundreds of thousands of miles beyond the near-Earth International Space Station (ISS).
NASA officials say the different crew duties signify the cultural shifts that have taken place since the original Apollo missions ended in 1972, at a time when white males dominated space exploration.
Glover was also the first black man to live on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2020 and is among 15 African Americans selected to be an astronaut.
In his distinguished career since his selection as an astronaut in 2013, Mr. Glover has logged over 3,000 flight hours in 40 different aircraft.
Artemis II – which will be launched in November 2024 – the crew of four in the Orion spacecraft will orbit the moon but not land.
Their goal is to test new technologies, including heat shields that will protect Orion as he travels 24,500 miles per hour in 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit on the way back.
If successful, NASA plans to launch an expedition to land on the moon, dubbed Artemis III. Another success would mean a trip to Mars for NASA.
“I want to thank God for this amazing opportunity,” Mr. Glover said during a recent conference on Monday.
“This is a big day. We have a lot to celebrate. It’s so much more than the four names that were announced. We need to celebrate this moment in human history.
“Artermis II is more than a mission to the moon and back. There is more than one mission that must happen before we can send humans to the lunar surface. It is the next step in the journey that will take humanity to Mars.
“This crew will never forget that.”
Mr. Glover was born in 1976 in Pomona, approximately 30 miles east of Los Angeles.
The city is a far cry from the glitz and glamor of Hollywood, which is known for its high poverty rate and relatively high crime rate.
Mr. Glover grew up in Ponoma, California, 30 miles east of Los Angeles
He said his parents and teachers served as mentors as he grew up.
“In the beginning it had to be my parents; they have encouraged and challenged me and set high standards for me. Away from home, I’ve had teachers doing the same thing,” he told USA Today in 2017.
“They all challenged me and they encouraged me.”
Mr Glover went on to say that his teachers and parents pushed him to attend engineering school and eventually become a test pilot – which led to him becoming an astronaut.
He graduated from Ontario High School in Southern California in 1994 and then attended California Polytechnic State University before completing his graduate education at Air University and the US Naval Academy.
“I’m the first person in my family to graduate from college and I’m graduating with my mom and dad and my stepdad and my little brothers and my grandparents,” he told USA Today.
“It was unreal, it was cool and it was special to me.”
In 1999 he was commissioned as part of the US Navy. After completing flight training in Corpus Christy, Texas, he was “granted his wings” in 2001 and given the title of pilot.
He then moved to San Diego to learn to fly the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, known as one of the Navy’s most versatile aircraft.
After training in Florida and Virginia for the next two years, he was deployed to Iraq in 2004 for six months.
Mr. Glover was working in the office of the late Sen John McCain as a legislative staffer when he was selected to be an astronaut by NASA in 2013.
NASA selects just a handful of the thousands of people who apply to join the nation’s astronaut corps each year. Only 15 black astronauts were ever chosen out of 348.
A large majority of the current 41 astronauts have a military background, like Mr. Glover.
He completed his astronaut training in 2015. Three years later, he was selected to be part of the first-ever operational flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, a reusable aircraft designed by the Elon Musk company and founded in 2002.
As part of this mission, he would live on the ISS from November 17, 2020 to May 2, 2021.
The almost six-month stay on the station makes him the first black astronaut to inhabit it.
Jeanette Epps, 52, who was selected to be an astronaut in 2009, will become the second African American and first black woman to live on the ISS after the Boeing Starliner-1 launch in 2024 or later.
In 2020, Mr. Glover said it was an honor to be the first black person selected to serve on the ISS.
“It’s something that needs to be celebrated once we’ve done it and I’m honored to be in this position and to be part of this amazing and experienced crew,” he said during a press conference.
“I look forward to getting up there and doing my best to ensure we are worth all the work that has gone into preparing this mission.”
In an interview with The Christian Chronicle later that year, he said there were qualified black astronauts who deserved the honor before him.
“I’ve had some great colleagues before me who really could have made it, and there are some great people who will come after me,” he said.
“I wish it had already happened, but I try not to draw too much attention to it.”
Who is Christina Koch? The first NASA astronaut to orbit the moon
Christina Koch will become the first woman to orbit the moon when NASA’s Artemis II mission launches next year.
Christina Koch, 44, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, is set to become the first woman to circumnavigate the moon
The Grand Rapids, Michigan native, 44, already holds the record for the longest time a woman has spent in space, 328 days, and for participating in the first all-female spacewalk in 2019.
Ms Koch, who was selected to be an astronaut in 2013, said she didn’t follow a “checklist” to become an astronaut – instead chasing after her passions, be it climbing, sailing or even surfing in her 40s.
She said in 2020, “I really can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be an astronaut.
“For me, I learned that I wanted to be an astronaut because my passions made me the person who could contribute the most to human spaceflight.”
While exploring space, her husband, Robert, tends to the couple’s household chores and puppy, LBD. They are not believed to have children.
“Am I excited? Absolutely!’ she said at a press conference when announcing the crew on Monday.
“The one thing I’m most excited about is that we’re going to take your excitement, your aspirations, your dreams with us on this mission.”
She also said, “We’re going to be launching from Kennedy Space Center, we’re going to put the words ‘go for launch’ here on the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built.”
NASA has sent a total of 355 people into space so far, of which about 55 are women — or 15 percent. It also sent 24 people to lunar orbit and 12 to the lunar surface, all of whom were men.
Russian Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman to ever leave Earth’s atmosphere – she launched in 1937. American women were not sent into space until 1983.
However, Frau Koch will make history on the Artemis II mission when she completes her long-awaited journey around the moon.
She revealed her love for space in a video when she was announced as a member of the Artemis I team in 2020.
The astronaut said: “I’m someone who has loved exploring the frontier since I was little.
“I used to be inspired by the night sky and throughout my career it has been this balance between engineering for space science missions and doing science in really remote places around the world.
“I loved things that made me feel small, things that made me think about the size of the universe, my place in it and everything that was out there to discover.”
She added: “I haven’t necessarily lived my life by checkboxes of how to become an astronaut.
“But I followed those passions and one day I looked at what I’ve become and the skills I’ve gained and I asked, ‘Could I sit across from a table and present myself as someone who is good at it can?”. And I thought I’d try.’
She went to North Carolina State University in Raleigh for a bachelor’s and master’s degree in electrical engineering.
She then became an electrical engineer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland before becoming a research scientist for the United States Antarctic program and living in the Arctic for a full year.
Ms. Koch was one of eight people selected for NASA’s 21st class of astronauts in 2013. After two years of training, she became a full-fledged astronaut.
Her first space flight took place in 2019 when she was sent to the International Space Station (ISS) to work as a flight engineer.
She stayed up there for 328 days, setting the record for the longest space flight by a woman. The previous record holder, Peggy Whitson, was in space for 288 days.
While in space, she also set the record for the first all-women spacewalk with Jessica Meir — when a female astronaut steps out of a vehicle in space.
The pair spent seven hours and 17 minutes on the side of the ISS as they worked to swap out a power controller. The walk also included a brief phone call with President Trump.
Upon returning to Earth in 2020, Ms. Koch said she felt “like a baby” who was two weeks old and was working hard to hold up his head.
Back on Earth, she lives in Galveston, Texas, just outside the Houston area.
Her interests include backpacking, running, yoga, photography and travel.
Now she will be part of a groundbreaking mission as part of NASA’s goal of putting a human on Mars.
The Artemis II mission marks NASA’s first voyage to the moon in half a century. It says it’s being done to help the test kit prepare to take humans to Mars.
The agency sent an empty Orion capsule around the moon last year before returning to Earth in a long-awaited dress rehearsal.
If this final mission goes well, another flight will be sent in 2025 to land humans on the moon — as part of tests before sending humans to Mars.