The Artemis II crew – (L-R) pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Jeremy Hansen of CSA (Canadian Space Agency), commander Reid Wiseman and mission specialist Christina Koch – rehearse a walkout from the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on December 20, 2025 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Joe Raedle | Getty ImagesNASA is preparing to launch a mission to the moon — and it’s making history for more reasons than one.The space agency’s Artemis II launch marks the U.S.’s first journey back to the moon in more than 50 years. It will also carry the first Black astronaut and the first female astronaut to travel to the moon, though the mission will be a flyby without a touchdown on the surface.The launch, originally scheduled for early February and now delayed, will carry four astronauts around the moon and back, including Victor Glover and Christina Koch, the first Black and first female astronauts, respectively, to make the flight. The mission follows the success of the Artemis I launch in 2022, which was uncrewed, and marks NASA’s next step toward eventually sending astronauts to Mars.”The benefits of the Artemis program are technological, but they’re also cultural,” Glover, who is a decorated U.S. Navy captain and has traveled to the International Space Station, said in a 2024 NASA video. “What really means something to me is the inspiration that will come from it, inspiring future generations to reach for the moon, literally to reach for the moon.” Koch began her career at NASA, starting as an engineer and going on to conduct scientific research before becoming an astronaut in 2013, also traveling to the International Space Station.”The one thing I’m most excited about is that we are going to carry your excitement, your aspiration, your dreams with us on this mission,” Koch said at the 2023 press conference when the mission’s astronauts were announ …
