Meet the astronauts about to make history on flight around the moon

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The 4 Artemis II astronauts scheduled to motorboat connected a trip astir the moon this week basal retired adjacent successful a NASA astronaut corps afloat of ace achievers.

They see 3 abstraction presumption veterans and a Canadian rookie — a commandant who is simply a azygous genitor to 2 children; an experienced Navy pilot; a seasoned spacewalker who volition go the archetypal pistillate to alert to the moon; and the archetypal Canadian who volition alert beyond low-Earth orbit.

"It's bonzer arsenic a quality being to spell to the acold broadside of the satellite and look backmost and spot the Earth from the position of the moon," Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen said successful an interrogation with CBS News. "Whatever that looks like, and immoderate that feels like, that is an bonzer accidental that I'm precise grateful for."

Said astronaut Christina Koch: "How bash we consciousness arsenic the radical that tin telephone the satellite (a) destination, not conscionable thing we're looking at? It is our beardown anticipation that this ngo is the commencement of an epoch wherever everyone, each idiosyncratic connected Earth, tin look astatine the satellite and deliberation of it arsenic besides a destination."

Koch, Hansen, aviator Victor Glover and commandant Reid Wiseman were selected with large fanfare successful April 2023. They person spent the past 3 years grooming for a comparatively abbreviated nine-day ngo to loop astir the moon, a trailblazing formation that sets the signifier for planned moon landings successful 2028 and the operation of a lunar base adjacent the moon's southbound pole.

The unit brings a wealthiness of acquisition to NASA's astir challenging ngo successful decades — scheduled for liftoff Wednesday evening. Here's a little look astatine the astronauts.

Reid Wiseman, Artemis II commander

Mission commandant Reid Wiseman, 50, was calved successful Baltimore, earned a grade successful machine and subject engineering from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a master's grade successful systems engineering from Johns Hopkins University.

He became a naval aviator successful 1999, completed aggregate craft bearer deployments, enactment successful a stint astatine the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School flying F-35 and F-18 combatant jets earlier different bearer deployment. He was astatine oversea erstwhile helium was selected to articulation NASA's astronaut corps successful 2009.

Wiseman archetypal flew successful abstraction successful 2014, launching aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, logging 165 days successful orbit aboard the International Space Station and completing 2 spacewalks totaling 12 hours and 47 minutes.

His woman Carroll, a registered nurse, died successful 2020 aft a agelong conflict with cancer.

"When she truly started getting sick, I wanted to determination america backmost towards wherever her household was from," Wiseman said. "And she's like, 'No, this is wherever you work. This is the occupation you love. This is wherever you work, and this is wherever our kids are increasing up, and we are going to enactment close here.' To me, that was marching orders ... to proceed down this path."

He protects the family's privacy, but has said raising their daughters arsenic a azygous dada has been the top situation of his life.

"They would alternatively I not go," helium said successful an interview. "They would decidedly alternatively I beryllium a stay-at-home dada and bent out. But they besides cognize that this is simply a unsocial opportunity. You know, the parents person to unrecorded their dreams conscionable similar the kids person to unrecorded their dreams."

U.S. Navy Captain Victor Glover, Artemis II pilot

Born successful Pomona, California, Glover, 49, is joined and the begetter of 4 children. He earned an engineering grade from California Polytechnic State University and 3 master's degrees successful subject aviation, systems engineering and management.

NASA astronaut and Artemis II aviator Victor Glover.

An F/A-18 pilot, Glover logged a deployment aboard USS John F. Kennedy craft carrier, spent a twelvemonth arsenic a Navy speech aviator astatine the Air Force Test Pilot School and went connected to alert with respective combatant squadrons earlier being selected for a Legislative Fellowship assigned to the bureau of a U.S. senator. He was a Legislative Fellow successful the Senate erstwhile selected arsenic an astronaut successful 2013.

A begetter of four, Glover has logged much than 3,500 hours flying clip successful much than 40 aircraft, completing much than 400 bearer flights and 24 combat missions. He served arsenic aviator of the archetypal operational SpaceX Crew Dragon formation to the International Space Station successful 2020-21, logging 168 days successful orbit and completing 4 spacewalks.

"I was going done a batch erstwhile I got assigned to this mission," helium said. "I had immoderate existent challenges going connected successful my life, and I was trying to bash immoderate things professionally arsenic good arsenic personally. And erstwhile this duty came up, it was a pugnacious clip to displacement gears for me.

"So I took immoderate clip to archer my wife, and past we told the kids erstwhile we could each beryllium together. ... When I told them, they erupted, let's go! I'm astir to commencement crying close now. Like I needed that. I didn't adjacent cognize I needed it."

Christina Koch, ngo specialist

Christina Koch (pronounced "Cook"), 47, was calved successful Grand Rapids, Michigan, but grew up successful Jacksonville, North Carolina. A surfer and stone climber who enjoys backpacking, photography and travel, Koch holds a bachelor's grade successful engineering from North Carolina State University and studied overseas successful Ghana.

She worked arsenic an electrical technologist astatine NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center earlier moving arsenic a probe subordinate successful Antarctica and wintering implicit astatine the Admunsen-Scott South Pole Station. She past worked astatine Johns Hopkins University, helping make subject instruments for NASA's Juno probe, present orbiting Jupiter, and 2 spacecraft designed to survey the Van Allen radiation belts.

As if that wasn't enough, Koch past resumed tract enactment successful Antarctica and Greenland earlier enactment with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration successful Alaska and Samoa.

She met her hubby earlier becoming an astronaut, "and I retrieve telling him that I was applying erstwhile we started dating and but that, don't worry, that would ne'er happen."

But it did. Her exertion was approved and she joined the astronaut corps successful 2013. She logged 328 days successful space aboard the International Space Station successful 2019-20, conducting six spacewalks, including the archetypal 3 all-female outings.

The Artemis II ngo is simply a earthy measurement for a pistillate who has devoted her beingness to exploration, some connected and disconnected the planet.

"To me, what it each comes down to is ... answering immoderate of the biggest philosophical questions of our time," she said. "Are we alone? Could determination beryllium beingness retired there? We person to cognize however our star strategy formed, however different star systems astir different stars mightiness person formed.

"And secondly, I deliberation we spell to larn astir ourselves erstwhile we are down the satellite and we're separated from the remainder of humanity. Hopefully that's a poignant infinitesimal wherever we tin deliberation to ourselves, what is important erstwhile you nonstop different humans disconnected of the planet? What bash we attraction about? What unites us, what makes america the same?

"Those questions are answered erstwhile we instrumentality these large journeys, and they pass however we unrecorded our mundane lives."

Jeremy Hansen, Canadian ngo specialist

Born successful London, Ontario, Hansen, 50, grew up connected a workplace until his precocious schoolhouse years successful Ingersoll, Ontario. A stone climber and upland biker who enjoys sailing, helium is joined and the begetter of 3 children.

At property 12, Hansen began what turned into a lifelong vocation successful aviation, joining the Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron and earning his glider aviator wings astatine 16 and a backstage pilot's licence a twelvemonth later.

He earned a bachelor's degree, with honors, successful abstraction subject from the Royal Military College and starting successful 2004, served arsenic a CF-18 combatant aviator and combat operations officer, moving with NORAD and Arctic flying operations. The Canadian Space Agency selected him for astronaut grooming successful 2009.

In 2017 helium became the archetypal Canadian to pb a NASA astronaut people and was named to the Artemis II unit six years later. Fifteen Canadians person flown successful space, but nary person flown farther than low-Earth orbit. Hansen volition beryllium the archetypal to task into heavy abstraction and the archetypal to alert astir the moon.

The Artemis II mission volition beryllium the archetypal piloted formation of NASA's elephantine Space Launch System rocket and the archetypal formation of an Orion unit capsule with astronauts connected board.

"It's a trial flight, and we person to beryllium consenting to instrumentality that risk," Hansen said. "And that's the 1 that I speech to my household about. I'm precise optimistic. I genuinely judge the astir apt result is we'll each beryllium wholly good erstwhile we deed the Pacific Ocean.

"But I privation everyone to recognize that you tin suffer a crew, and if we bash that, it shouldn't daze us. And the astir important happening we bash adjacent is we stack the adjacent rocket, and fto the adjacent 4 volunteers get connected apical of it and go."

He said asking his woman and children to judge that hazard is "a batch to inquire of a family. My kids are each young adults now, but inactive a batch to inquire of them. But they're truly showing up. They're truly supportive."

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