Nasa names first woman and black man on Moon mission

 The US space agency Nasa has named the four astronauts who will take humanity back to the Moon, after a 50-year gap.

Victor Glover will be the first black astronaut on a lunar mission, and Christina Koch will become the first woman to be assigned to one.

They will fly a capsule around the Moon with Reid Wiseman and Jeremy Hansen late next year or early in 2025.

Although the astronauts will not land on the Moon, their mission will clear the way for a subsequent crew to land.

In a ceremony held in Houston, Texas, the three US citizens and one Canadian were unveiled to the general public.

They will currently start a time of extraordinary preparation to prepare themselves.

Nasa is keeping its promise to bring more diversity to its exploration efforts by selecting a woman and a person of color. Every one of the past ran missions to the Moon were made by white men.

Reid Wiseman (47): a pilot in the US Navy who was once in charge of the astronaut office at Nasa. He has flown to the International Space Station once before, in 2015.

Victor Glover (46): a test pilot in the US Navy. He joined Nasa in 2013, and in 2020, he flew into space for the first time. He was the first African American to spend more than six months on the space station.

Christina Koch (44): a specialist in electricity. With 328 days, she holds the record for the longest period of time a woman has been in space. In October 2019, she participated in the first all-female spacewalk with Nasa astronaut Jessica Meir.

Jeremy Hansen (47): He was a fighter pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force prior to joining the Canadian Space Agency. He hasn't been into space yet.

"The Artemis-2 crew is a representation of thousands of people who have put in a lot of effort to get us to the stars. According to Nasa Administrator Bill Nelson, "This is their crew, this is our crew, and this is the crew of humanity."

"Each of the NASA astronauts, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Hammock Koch, and the CSA astronaut, Jeremy Hansen, has a unique story, but taken together, they represent our creed: E pluribus unum means "one from many." The Artemis Generation, a new generation of star sailors and dreamers, are entering a new era of exploration together.

Wiseman will be the officer; Glover will be his pilot; Koch and Hansen will serve as the "mission specialists" in support.

The quartet is basically repeating the first hum

an spaceflight to the Moon, Apollo 8, which took place in 1968.

Its team took the well known "Earthrise" picture that showed our home planet rising up out of behind the lunar skyline.

The significant distinction this time will be the utilization of the 21st Century innovation that Nasa has created under its Artemis program. Artemis was Apollo's twin sister in Greek mythology.

The Space Launch System and its companion crew capsule, Orion, were put through their paces by the agency last year.

The Artemis-1 mission took off from Earth and traveled around the Moon for 25 days without anyone aboard. Engineers were able to evaluate the hardware's readiness as a result of this.

Now, the newly appointed astronauts will board Orion for Artemis-2 and the approximately 10-day journey to and from the Moon.

Apollo 17 was the final human spaceflight mission to the Moon in December 1972. Apollo 11 made the first landing in 1969.

The first landing of the new era, Artemis-3, is not expected to take place until at least a year after Artemis-2.

At this time, Nasa does not have a system that can take astronauts to the lunar surface. Entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX company is working on this.

It will be a variation of his Starship vehicle, which is because of start flight testing in the following couple of weeks.

"Because Artemis-2 is more than just a mission to the Moon and back, we need to celebrate this moment in human history; Before we send humans to the Moon's surface, it's more than just a mission. Victor Glover stated at the Houston ceremony, "It is the next step on the journey that gets humanity to Mars."

Christina Koch completed: Are you exuberant? I asked this because the one thing about which I'm most excited is the fact that we will carry your enthusiasm, aspirations, and dreams with us on this mission, Artemis-2 - your mission."

Vanessa Wyche is the head of Nasa's Johnson Space Flight Center, the home of mission control. She said:

"Among the [Artemis-2] group are the primary lady, first ethnic minority, and first Canadian on a lunar mission, and each of the four space travelers will address the best of mankind as they investigate to support all."