Artemis II — Crew

Prime Crew

Announced April 3, 2023 · Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX

Reid Wiseman Commander

NASA · USN Captain · Born November 11, 1975 · Baltimore, Maryland

Flights: 2nd spaceflight

Days in space: 165

EVAs: 2 (12h 58m)

Selection: 2004 (NASA Group 20)

1997 B.S. Computer Engineering, United States Naval Academy (Annapolis)

2001 U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, NAS Patuxent River

2009 Selected as NASA astronaut (Group 20)

2014 ISS Expedition 41 — 165 days, Soyuz TMA-13M 2 spacewalks totaling 12 hours 58 minutes

2020 Chief of the Astronaut Office Served 2020–2022

        2023
        Selected as Artemis II Commander
        Announced April 3, 2023
      

Victor Glover Pilot

NASA · USN Captain · Born April 30, 1976 · Pomona, California

Flights: 2nd spaceflight

Days in space: 168

EVAs: 4

Aircraft types: 24+

Flight hours: 3,000+

1999 M.S. Flight Test Engineering, Air University

2007 M.S. Military Operational Art and Science, Air University

2009 M.A.S. Engineering and Management, MIT

2013 Selected as NASA astronaut (Group 21)

2014 Edwards AFB Test Pilot School graduate F/A-18 combat pilot, 24 aircraft types, 3,000+ flight hours

2020 SpaceX Crew-1 Pilot — 168 days aboard ISS First operational Crew Dragon flight; 4 EVAs

        2023
        Selected as Artemis II Pilot
        First person of color assigned to a lunar mission
      

Christina Koch Mission Specialist 1

NASA · Civilian · Born January 29, 1979 · Grand Rapids, Michigan

Flights: 2nd spaceflight

Days in space: 328 consecutive

EVAs: 6

Record: Longest single spaceflight by a woman

2001 B.S. Electrical Engineering and Physics, NC State University

2002 M.S. Electrical Engineering, NC State University

2002 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center — instrument development

2004 Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

2005 NOAA field stations — Palmer Station (Antarctica) and American Samoa Scientific instruments and remote station operations

2013 Selected as NASA astronaut (Group 21)

2019 ISS Expedition 59/60/61 — 328 consecutive days Women's single spaceflight duration record; 6 EVAs including first all-female EVA with Jessica Meir (Oct 18, 2019)

        2023
        Selected as Artemis II Mission Specialist 1
        First woman assigned to a lunar mission
      

Jeremy Hansen Mission Specialist 2

CSA · Canadian Forces Colonel · Born January 27, 1976 · London, Ontario, Canada

Flights: 1st spaceflight

Military: CF-18 fighter pilot

Analog: NEEMO 19 aquanaut

ISS role: Capcom (Exp. 44/45)

1999 B.Sc. Space Science, Royal Military College of Canada

2000s CF-18 Hornet fighter pilot, Canadian Forces Fighter weapons instructor, top graduate of tactical fighter course

2009 Selected by Canadian Space Agency (CSA astronaut class of 2009)

2014 NEEMO 19 — NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations Underwater analog at Aquarius Reef Base, Key Largo, Florida

2015 Capcom for ISS Expeditions 44 and 45

        2023
        Selected as Artemis II Mission Specialist 2
        First Canadian and first non-American assigned to a lunar mission
      

Backup Crew

Designated backup astronauts for Artemis II

Andre Douglas Backup

NASA · Born c. 1986 · Astronaut Group 23 “The Flies” (2021)

Education: GWU PhD (Systems Engineering)

Service: U.S. Coast Guard

Specialty: Structural engineering

2010s NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps Coast Guard service; structural engineer specializing in marine and aerospace systems

2019 Ph.D. in Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2021 Selected as NASA astronaut (Group 23 — “The Flies”)

        2024
        Designated Artemis II backup crew member
      

Jenni Gibbons Backup

CSA · Flight Test Engineer · Selected by CSA 2017

Previous: NRC Canada flight test engineer

Distinction: First CSA mission specialist backup

2010s Flight test engineer, National Research Council Canada Aircraft systems testing and evaluation

2017 Selected by Canadian Space Agency (CSA astronaut recruitment 2017)

        2024
        Designated Artemis II backup — first CSA mission specialist backup
      

Mission Firsts

Historic records Artemis II will set

First Crewed Flight Beyond LEO Since 1972

No humans have traveled beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 splashed down on December 19, 1972. Artemis II ends a gap of over fifty years.

All crew

First Woman Beyond Low Earth Orbit

Christina Koch will become the first woman to travel beyond LEO. All 24 humans who previously flew beyond Earth orbit were men, all on Apollo missions between 1968 and 1972.

Christina Koch — Mission Specialist 1

First Person of Color Beyond Low Earth Orbit

Victor Glover will be the first person of color to fly beyond LEO, expanding the demographics of deep space exploration beyond the exclusively white crews of the Apollo era.

Victor Glover — Pilot

First Canadian Beyond Low Earth Orbit

Jeremy Hansen will be the first Canadian citizen to travel beyond LEO, representing the Canadian Space Agency on a lunar mission for the first time in history.

Jeremy Hansen — Mission Specialist 2

First Non-American Beyond Low Earth Orbit

Every previous crewed mission beyond LEO launched exclusively American crews. Hansen will be the first citizen of any non-US nation to fly a lunar trajectory.

Jeremy Hansen — Mission Specialist 2

First Crewed Orion / SLS Flight

The first crewed flight of both the Orion spacecraft (CM-003 “Integrity”) and the Space Launch System. Artemis I flew the stack uncrewed in November 2022.

All crew

First Crewed Free-Return Trajectory Since Apollo 13

Artemis II will fly a free-return lunar flyby, a trajectory profile not used with crew since Apollo 13 in April 1970. The path uses the Moon's gravity to return the spacecraft to Earth without requiring a propulsive maneuver.

All crew

Most Diverse Crew Beyond LEO

With a woman, a person of color, a Canadian, and two Navy captains from different generations, Artemis II will be the most diverse crew ever sent beyond Earth orbit.

All crew

Selection Context

How the crew was chosen and what they bring

The Artemis II crew was announced by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson on April 3, 2023, at Ellington Field near Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The selection balanced deep space experience, test pilot credentials, engineering expertise, and international partnership obligations under the Artemis Accords.

Combined, the prime crew brings 661 days of spaceflight experience, 12 EVAs, test pilot qualifications across dozens of aircraft types, advanced engineering degrees from MIT, NC State, Johns Hopkins, and the Royal Military College of Canada, and field experience ranging from Antarctic research stations to combat operations.

Reid Wiseman, who served as Chief of the Astronaut Office from 2020 to 2022, commands the mission. Victor Glover, a SpaceX Crew Dragon veteran and F/A-18 combat pilot, serves as pilot. Christina Koch, holder of the women's single spaceflight duration record at 328 days, is Mission Specialist 1. Jeremy Hansen, a CF-18 fighter pilot and the first non-American selected for a beyond-LEO mission, is Mission Specialist 2 representing the Canadian Space Agency.

The backup crew — Andre Douglas (NASA) and Jenni Gibbons (CSA) — stand ready to step in if any prime crew member is unable to fly. Douglas, a structural engineer with a PhD from MIT, was part of NASA's 2021 astronaut class. Gibbons, a flight test engineer selected by CSA in 2017, is the first Canadian Space Agency backup for a mission specialist role.