Artemis II Crew Trains for Historic Moon Mission

The crew that will circle the Moon is already in the sky, sharpening their skills for one of the most ambitious space missions in human history.

NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen are deep into training for Artemis II. The mission will send them around the Moon and back in what will be the first crewed flight beyond low Earth orbit in over 50 years.

On February 11, Koch and Hansen took off from Ellington Field in Texas aboard a T-38 training jet. These supersonic flights help astronauts maintain the quick decision-making and physical conditioning they'll need when piloting the Orion spacecraft through the harsh environment of deep space.

The Artemis II mission represents a giant leap forward in space exploration. The crew will test all of Orion's systems during their lunar flyby before splashing down off the California coast. Every maneuver they practice now could make the difference between mission success and failure when they're 240,000 miles from home.

Why This Inspires

This mission isn't just about four people flying around the Moon. It's the foundation for returning astronauts to the lunar surface and eventually sending humans to Mars for the first time.

Victor Glover will become the first person of color to leave low Earth orbit. Christina Koch already holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman. Jeremy Hansen represents Canada's growing role in space exploration.

Their training flights over Texas might look routine, but each one brings humanity closer to becoming a multi-planetary species. The skills they're building today will help establish a permanent human presence on the Moon within the next decade.

The journey to Mars begins with these training runs under Earth's atmosphere, preparing for the moment when four explorers venture farther into space than anyone has traveled in a generation.