Astronauts ready to go to the moon “for all humanity”

The commander of the next NASA mission on the Moon said that he and his crew “would see things that no human has never seen”.

Reid Wiseman told a press conference that it was likely that his spacecraft would fly on large areas of the Moon that the previous Apollo missions had never mapped.

NASA announced yesterday that it hoped that it would be able to launch the first mission of the moon equipped in 50 years in February 2026.

The specialist in the Mission Christina Koch explained that astronauts could study the lunar surface in exquisite details for three full hours.

“Believe it or not, human eyes are one of the best scientific instruments we have,” she said.

“Our geologists are more excited than our eyes look at the moon, and we trained to transform these observations by answering some of the biggest questions of our time, questions like” are we alone? “We can answer this by going to Mars in the future, and this mission can be the first step to bring this answer to the humanity team.”

The Artemis II mission is the second launch of the Artemis program, the aim of which is to win astronauts and ultimately establish a long -term presence on the lunar surface.

Commander Reid told journalists the name that the crew had given to their spacecraft and why they chose it.

“Peace and hope for all humanity is what we really want. We bring the world together, and when you train, it will create magic. So we will fly around the moon in” integrity “of the spacecraft.

The four astronauts said they were inspired by Apollo Moon’s missions in the 1960s and the early 1970s.

Learn more about the four astronauts below.

Christina Koch decided to become an astronaut after seeing a photo of the earth taken by Bill Anders, crew member of the Apollo 8 mission in 1968. For her, the Flight Artemis II is literally a dream come true because he, just like Apollo 8, will fly around the Moon to help open the way to an landing on the Moon.

Although Christina was born 11 years after taking the photo, she kept a poster of the earth rising above the lunar surface. Just when this moment inspired a generation living in the 1960s, she declared in an interview with NASA that she hoped that her mission would allow a new generation to live, but what they lived and, as he did at the time, would make people a more optimistic place.

“The fact that it was a human behind this goal made this image much deeper and changed our way of thinking about our own house,” she said.

“The moon was not only a symbol to think of our place in the universe, it is a lighthouse for science and understanding where we come from.”

Christina was an engineer who became astronaut in 2013. She lived and worked on the international space station for almost all 2019, spending a total of 328 consecutive days in space and participated in the first entirely female space step. Its hobbies include surfing, climbing rocks and ice creams, programming, community service, triathlons, yoga, hiking, wood work, photography and travel.

Christina should be the first woman to go to the moon.

It will be the first time that Jeremy Hansen has been in space. He too was inspired by the astronauts of Apollo 8. At the time, the world was torn by wars and conflicts.

“When they stole around the moon just before Christmas in 1968, there were a lot in the world, and people realized that it was a really difficult period. People struggled in different ways and I think we can all resonate with that today.

“And I remember reading on a postcard that Bill Anders obtained on his return, and that is simply, everything that was written about this was:” You saved 1968 “.”

With his square buzz -shaped jaw and his refined appearance, he appears to be the archetypical heroic astronaut. As a Canadian, he became the first non -American to go to the moon.

His message is that of unity and inspiration not only for the United States, but the whole world.

“The Artemis missions have set an objective so ambitious for humanity which inspires contributions from around the world, not only one nation is inspired and moved by this, but nations around the world meet.”

Jeremy was a fighter pilot, a physicist and Aquanaut before joining the Canadian space agency in 2009. During his time with the CSA, he became the first Canadian to lead the training of astronauts at the NASA Johnson Space Center. He is married to three children and loves sailing, climbing and mountain biking.

Those who met Victor say is the most charismatic of the quartet and the most lively dressed, with brown leather boots of creators making it appear even in an orange flight costume.

“Pushing himself to explore is the heart of who we are,” he said in an interview with NASA. This is part of the human being. “”

As is another crew, his words go back to a bygone space era, and the words of President John F. Kennedy in 1962: “We choose to go to the moon during this decade and do other things, not because they are easy, but because they are difficult, because this goal will be used to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because we have tried to win.

Victor continues by saying: “It is in our nature. We go out to explore, to know where we are, why we are, by understanding the big questions about our place in the universe.”

Victor’s call signal is IKE, which is renowned for “I know everything”, recognizing its three master’s degrees: in flight test engineering, systems engineering and military operational art and science.

Victor was selected as NASA astronaut in 2013. He previously was a pilot of the NASA SpaceX CREW-1 mission at the international space station as part of the shipment 64.

He was born in Pomona, California, and is married to four children.

Victor should be the first black to go to the moon.

Reid Wiseman also brings back the echoes of the Apollo Moonshots from 1960 when he says that he hopes that the Artemis II mission will be considered a “small step to have humans on Mars and a sustained presence on the moon”.

His words echo those of another space commander, Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon: “A small step for man, a giant jump for humanity”.

Although Reid is the mission commander, he takes care to include his crew.

“When I watch Victor, Christina and Jeremy, they want to go and do this mission, they are strongly motivated, they are humble to a fault. It’s so cool to be with them.”

Reid is widowed and despite a distinguished career as an astronaut, he considers his time as a single parent as his “greatest challenge and the most enriching phase of his life.

In one of the very rare interviews that Neil Armstrong has ever helped, I asked him in 1996 if the dreams of humans lived and working on the moon and going to other planets would never return. His answer was:

“Reality may have disappeared, but the dream is still there, and it will come back in time.”

He would have been encouraged to have heard these words from each of the Artemis II teams.

Christina: “We are ready.”

Jeremy: “We are going.”

Victor: “To the Moon.”

Reid: “For all humanity!”