'We are going!' NASA announces crew of Artemis II moon mission
Meet the four astronauts on NASA's first scheduled crewed mission of the Orion spacecraft around the moon.
www.cbsnews.comHere’s the latest on Artemis II crew based on recent reporting:
Direct answer
- Artemis II carried four astronauts: Reid Wiseman (NASA, commander), Victor Glover (NASA, pilot), Christina Koch (NASA, mission specialist), and Jeremy Hansen (Canadian Space Agency, mission specialist). They flew a lunar flyby mission in early 2026 and have since returned to Earth.[4][8]
Key updates you might want
- The mission objective was to test Orion’s life-support and deep-space systems during a roughly 10-day lunar flyby, paving the way for future crewed lunar landings. The crew was reported to be in good spirits and the spacecraft/trajectory operations proceeded as planned.[5][4]
- Public updates from NASA and major outlets highlighted successful translunar injection, in-flight operations near the Moon, and a return trajectory that concluded with splashdown in the Pacific. You’ll see ongoing follow-ups about post-mission analyses and next steps for Artemis III and beyond.[8][5]
Illustrative context
- Artemis II is the first crewed test of Orion on a lunar-distance loop in decades, a critical step before any lunar landings. The four crew members bring NASA experience across spaceflight and Christina Koch adds substantial long-duration mission expertise.[3][4]
If you’d like, I can pull a concise timeline of the mission milestones (launch, translunar injection, lunar flyby, splashdown) and provide a quick 1-page summary with citations.