A Canadian Test Pilot for the First Apollo Lunar Flyby in 2024, and the First Airborne Mission by a Woman of Color: Artemis III
Members of the crew who will helm the first moon mission in five decades were revealed on Monday, queuing up the quartet to begin training for their historic lunar flyby that is set to take off in November 2024.
He is a decorated naval aviator and test pilot that was first selected to be a NASA astronauts in 2009. He traveled to the International Space Station aboard a Russian rocket for 165 days. Most recently, Wiseman served as chief of the astronaut office before stepping down in November 2022, making him eligible for a flight assignment.
The Canadian Space Agency selected Hansen for their training in 2009, which was the same year he was named a fighter pilot. He is the first Canadian to be put in charge of training a new class of NASA astronauts, and he is one of only four active Canadian astronauts.
After piloting the second crewed flight of the Crew Dragon spaceship, the 46-year-old naval aviator returned to his home planet, after spending nearly six months aboard the International Space Station. The veteran of four spacewalks earned a masters degree in engineering, but also worked as a test pilot.
Koch has gone on six spacewalks. She holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, with a total of 328 days in space. Koch is also an an electrical engineer who helped develop scientific instruments for multiple NASA mission. She’s also spent a year at the South Pole, an arduous stay that could well prepare her for the intensity of a moon mission.
The Artemis III mission is expected to be the first to bring a woman and a person of color to the moon. It will be the first time humans have been on the moon in more than 40 years.
The journey is expected to last about 10 days and will send the crew out beyond the moon, potentially further than any human has traveled in history, though the exact distance is yet to be determined.
The exact distance beyond the Moon will be determined by the day of liftoff and the relative distance of the Moon from the Earth.
Artemis Accords: A Framework for the Future Space Missions of the United States, Europe, and the Middle East to establish a Base Camp on the Moon
“The world just is, just holds their breath when things like this happen,” Biden said. “And I know you know it, but the work you’re doing is going to inspire countless people around our country and the world.”
NASA hopes to establish a base camp on the Moon that would include a lunar cabin, a rover, and a mobile home so that astronauts can stay there for up to two months at a time for future research.
According to NASA’s Office of Inspector General, each Orion spaceflight will cost more than $4 billion, and the overall cost of the Artemis program through the 2025 fiscal year will reach $93 billion.
A series of other countries have signed onto an agreement known as the Artemis Accords with NASA that lays out shared principles underpinning future space exploration, including Australia, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.