The four Artemis II astronauts who launched on a trip around the moon this week stand out even in a NASA astronaut corps full of super achievers.They include three space station veterans and a Canadian rookie — a commander who is a single parent to two children; an experienced Navy pilot; a veteran spacewalker who will become the first woman to fly to the moon; and the first Canadian who will fly beyond low-Earth orbit.The Artemis II crew’s official NASA portrait. Back row, left to right: astronaut Christina Koch, pilot Victor Glover, Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Front: mission commander Reid Wiseman. / Credit: NASA”It’s extraordinary as a human being to go to the far side of the moon and look back and see the Earth from the perspective of the moon,” Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen said in an interview with CBS News ahead of the launch. “Whatever that looks like, and whatever that feels like, that is an extraordinary opportunity that I’m very grateful for.”AdvertisementAdvertisementSaid astronaut Christina Koch: “How do we feel as the people that can call the moon (a) destination, not just something we’re looking at? It is our strong hope that this mission is the start of an era where everyone, every person on Earth, can look at the moon and think of it as also a destination.”Koch, Hansen, pilot Victor Glover and commander Reid Wiseman were selected with great fanfare in April 2023. They have spent the past three years training for a relatively short nine-day mission to loop around the moon, a trailblazing flight that sets the stage for planned moon landings in 2028 and the construction of a lunar base near the moon’s south pole.The crew brings a wealth of experience to NASA’s most challenging mission in decades. Here’s a brief look at the astronauts.Reid Wiseman, Artemis II commanderAdvertisementAdvertisementMission commander Reid Wiseman, 50, was born in Baltimore, earned a degree in computer and systems engineering from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a master’s degree in systems engineering from Johns Hopkins University.NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman. / Credit: Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo /AFP via Getty ImagesHe became a naval aviator in 1999, completed multiple aircraft carrier deployments, put in a stint at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School flying F-35 and F-18 fighter jets before another carrier deployment. He was at sea when he was selected to join NASA’s astronaut corps in 2009.Wiseman first flew in space in 2014, launching aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, logging 165 …
