Overview
- NASA’s four-person Artemis II launched Wednesday, April 1, sending Orion on a roughly 10-day trip around the Moon to check critical life-support, navigation, and recovery systems.
- Naval aviator and test pilot Victor Glover is serving as pilot and would become the first Black man to journey around the Moon if the flyby is completed as planned.
- The crew consists of commander Reid Wiseman with mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, and the flight is a flyby with no lunar landing.
- Glover has asked the public to view the milestone as part of human history, even as he acknowledges how representation inspires young people who see themselves in today’s astronaut corps.
- His path runs from Cal Poly football and wrestling to 168 days on the International Space Station in 2020–21, experience that informs this checkout of Orion for future Moon landings.