Move over Neil Armstrong! It's time for new astronauts to head to the moon. For the first time in more than 50 years, NASA is sending astronauts to the moon.
The four crewmembers – Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Jeremy Hansen – are set to board NASA's Artemis II mission on a 10-day journey through space on Wednesday, April 1, 2026. While they won't land on the moon, the astronauts are expected to go farther from Earth than any human has ever gone.
While the sheer idea of space sends me into an anxiety-ridden spiral, the astronauts are more than prepared.
"The four of us, we are ready to go. The team is ready to go. The vehicle is ready to go," Reid said Sunday, March 29 at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
So, who are the four brave astronauts making this groundbreaking journey? Here's everything we know about them and the rocketship they're traveling in.
© Getty ImagesReid Wiseman
Reid, 50, is the commander of Artemis II. This trip isn't his first to space. In 2014, Reid traveled to the International Space Station Station for six months. But outside of his impressive career, Reid is a dedicated father.
Tragically, his wife, Caroll "Taylor" Wiseman, died in 2020. The couple were parents-of-two. "I'm a single father of two daughters," Reid told TODAY in January.
"It'd be a lot easier just to sit on my couch and watch football for the weekend," he explained of his demanding job while being a parent. "But at the same time, there's four humans that were put in a position to be able to go explore and do something that is very unique and rare in this civilization."
© Getty ImagesChristina Koch
Like her commander, Christina, 47, has been to space before. In 2019, she traveled to the International Space Station and became one of the first women to participate in an all-female spacewalk, alongside astronaut Jessica Meir.
Christina joined NASA in 2001 and completed her astronaut training in 2015. She holds the record for the longest single continuous stay in space for a woman, having stayed in space for 328 days.
While she and her crewmembers won't be walking on the moon during this trip, Christina isn't upset about it. "I will be so excited to see someone I know get assigned to be the person and people to walk on the moon, but if it isn't in my space destiny to do that, that's just fine with me," she said.
© Getty ImagesVictor Glover
Victor, 49, came to NASA via the United States Navy. After his 14-year career in the military, he joined NASA and became one of the first astronauts to fly a commercial, operational flight. In 2020, he boarded SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station.
Like Reid, Victor is a father. He and his wife, Dionna Odom Glover, have four daughters.
"Our families have been along for this entire journey, the third quarantine of this series, and all the years of training and the travel, and they’re here now," he explained on Sunday, March 29.
© Getty ImagesJeremy Hansen
Jeremy, 50, is the only Canadian aboard Artemis II. And, he will be the first Canadian to travel to the moon. Throughout his career, Jeremy has innovated and taken big risks. In 2014, he traveled on an undersea expedition for seven days.
And he worked with ESA CAVES, an astronaut training course in which astronauts train for space in caves.
Outside of work, Jeremy is married to Doctor Catherine Hansen, and is a dad-of-three. Aboard Artemis II, the astronaut is bringing a moon pendant with his family's birthstones and the words "moon and back" engraved.
© Getty ImagesArtemis II
Artemis II will be in space for 10 days. The rocket will be launched into space by NASA's Space Launch System. The Orion ship is taller than the Statue of Liberty, but only has about 330 cubic feet of habitable space – about the size of a campervan. This rocket has been in development for over 20 years and will travel some 685,000 miles across space.
