WASHINGTON: The four astronauts selected for the Artemis 2 Moon mission will be the first to travel there in more than five decades. In doing so, they will become the new faces of American space exploration. Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch will make the voyage with their Canadian colleague Jeremy Hansen, and are now preparing to take off as soon as April 1. The journey, set to last around 10 days, will take the astronauts on a loop around the Moon, though they will not land on its surface. The crew comprises the first woman, the first person of color and the first non-American to take part in such a journey. Those are key differences from the Apollo era, which included the first and to this day the only humans to travel to the Moon. Here is a closer look at the crew: Reid Wiseman&nbsp; At 50 years old, Reid Wiseman is the mission&#39;s commander. The native of Baltimore joined NASA in 2009 following a 27-year career in the US Navy. &quot;I never thought I&#39;d be an astronaut,&quot; he said on a NASA podcast. &quot;I mean, come on, it&#39;s like an unobtainable dream.&quot; Until it&#39;s not: in 2014, Wiseman traveled to space for a 165-day mission aboard the International Space Station, and later served as NASA&#39;s chief of the astronaut office. After losing his wife to cancer in 2020, he raised his two daughters now teenagers on his own. In January, he said he aimed for transparency in explaining to them the inherent risks of his career and his coming journey. &quot;I told them, &#39;here&#39;s where the will is, here&#39;s where the trust documents are,&#39;&quot; he said. &quot;And if anything happens to me, here&#39;s what&#39;s going to happen to you.&quot; &quot;And that&#39;s just that is a part of this life.&quot; Victor Glover Victor Glover, 49 and also a Navy veteran, will serve as pilot of the Orion spacecraft. The native of California and father of four daughters was working as a legislative advisor in the US Senate when NASA selected him in 2013. He has recounted youthful dreaming of becoming a police officer like his father. But watching a Space Shuttle launch on his family&#39;s television set changed his perspective: &quot;I thought, &#39;I really want to drive one of those.&#39;&quot; &quot;And yes, I said drive, because I didn&#39;t know any pilots or engineers.&quot; He will become the first Black man and person of color, period to travel to the Moon. In 2020, he became the first African American to take part on a long-duration mission to the ISS. He emphasized at the time that the historic first was made possible thanks to those who came before him, paying tribute to figures including Guion Bluford, the first African American to travel to space in 1983. Christina Koch&nbsp;American astronaut Christina Koch, 47, will become the first woman to take part in a lunar mission. Like Glover, she was also chosen by NASA in 2013. Her background is particularly eclectic: an engineer by training, she is a seasoned explorer who has worked in extreme environments including Antarctica. She long dreamed of becoming an astronaut, she has said, noting the poster of the iconic &quot;Earthrise&quot; image plastered to the wall of her childhood bedroom. That photograph was taken during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968. &quot;I always say to people, do what scares you,&quot; she says of her personal motto. &quot;And that means I have to follow my own advice.&quot; Koch already holds the record for longest spaceflight by a woman &nbsp;328 days and also participated in the first spacewalk performed entirely by women, alongside her colleague Jessica Meir. Jeremy Hansen&nbsp; Canadian Jeremy Hansen, 50, rounds out the crew and will be the first non-American to fly around the Moon. Following his career as a fighter pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Canadian Space Agency brought him into its ranks in 2009. Post-training he served for several years as a liaison between Earth and the ISS, after which he was entrusted with training a new class of astronauts. He has said that as a child he found a photograph of Neil Armstrong on the Moon, a moment that sparked his passion for space exploration. The Artemis 2 mission will be his first journey away from Earth and with that, the father of three will fulfill a lifelong dream.

The Artemis II crew is shown inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in front of their Orion crew module on Aug. 8, 2023. From left are: Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist; Victor Glover, pilot; 

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Artemis II mission will send astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen on a historic 10-day crewed flight around the Moon, marking the first such journey in over 50 years.

Meet the four astronauts set to voyage around the Moon

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ISLAMABAD: NASA will send astronauts around the moon in February 2026, marking the first crewed lunar mission since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.&nbsp; The 10‑day mission will carry four astronauts on a lunar flyby. It is a crucial step in NASA&rsquo;s Artemis program, paving the way for future landings and establishing a permanent lunar presence. Testing systems beyond EarthArtemis II will validate the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft&#39;s ability to support human life in deep space, according to NASA.&nbsp; <img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/75660bae-8a14-4117-ad56-9cd8e4045ea8.png" style="width: 609px;" class="fr-fic fr-dii">This illustration shows NASA&rsquo;s new rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), which will send&nbsp;astronauts to the Moon on the Artemis missions. (NASA) The crew will test life-support systems that generate breathable air and remove carbon dioxide, evaluating performance during both high-activity exercise periods and rest. These tests are essential for the extended journeys required for future lunar surface missions. Unlike Apollo missions that landed on the Moon, Artemis II follows a free-return trajectory, bringing astronauts close to the lunar surface before returning to Earth without landing. NASA officials have described Artemis II as both a test of hardware and human endurance, requiring rigorous training before astronauts attempt more complex tasks on subsequent missions. Meet the crew<img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/b6a6c000-ec85-46f3-9876-cc80583c89c7.png" style="width: 446px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil">NASA astronauts (left to right) Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman,&nbsp;and Jeremy Hansen. (NASA/Josh Valcarcel) NASA commander Reid Wiseman, a Navy captain with 165 days of spaceflight experience, leads the 10‑day mission.&nbsp; Navy aviator Victor Glover, who piloted SpaceX&#39;s Crew-1 mission, will serve as pilot and become the first person of color to travel to the Moon. Christina Koch, who holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman at 328 days, will become the first woman to journey to lunar space.&nbsp; Canadian Air Force Colonel Jeremy Hansen will complete the crew as the first non-American to venture beyond Earth orbit. Beyond ApolloApollo 17 commander Eugene Cernan became the last human to walk on the Moon on December 14, 1972. The Apollo program completed six lunar landings between 1969 and 1972 before ending due to budget constraints, according to the NASA History Office. Artemis differs fundamentally in scope. Rather than short-term missions, the program aims to establish permanent infrastructure, including the Gateway lunar space station and surface habitats, to support sustained operations and eventual Mars missions. &quot;NASA remains focused on getting ready to safely fly four astronauts around the Moon and back,&quot; said acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy. The Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft are now stacked at Kennedy Space Center, with NASA looking to launch as early as February 2026.&nbsp;Ground teams are accelerating final preparations, including crew dress rehearsals and a wet dress rehearsal that will involve loading cryogenic propellants to simulate launch conditions.

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NASA’s Artemis II mission will send four astronauts on a 10-day lunar flyby, testing spacecraft systems and life-support for future lunar landings and long-term human space exploration. It will be the first crewed Moon flight since 1972.

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Meet the four astronauts set to voyage around the Moon

NASA to send astronauts to Moon after five decades