Three United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronauts selected for the Artemis II lunar mission bring extensive experience from scientific expeditions aboard the International Space Station, while their Canadian counterpart will be making his first journey into space.

The crew includes mission commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialist Christina Koch, all from the United States, alongside Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, who also serves as a mission specialist.

Tribune Online reports that NASA launched the Artemis II mission on Wednesday, sending the four astronauts on a journey around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years.

The spacecraft lifted off at exactly 6:35 p.m. EDT from the Kennedy Space Center in the United States, as the powerful Space Launch System rocket generated nearly 9 million pounds of thrust to propel the Orion capsule into space.

The mission marks a historic return to deep space exploration, becoming NASA’s first crewed flight beyond low Earth orbit since the Apollo era.

In this article, Tribune Online presents quick facts about the four astronauts.

MISSION COMMANDER REID WISEMAN

Wiseman, 50, spent 165 days aboard the International Space Station during a 2014 mission, travelling to the orbiting laboratory on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

A former U.S. Navy test pilot, he later served as NASA’s chief astronaut before his selection to lead Artemis II.

PILOT VICTOR GLOVER

Glover, 49, logged 168 days in space starting in 2020 as pilot of NASA’s Crew-1 mission, the first operational International Space Station flight using SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule.

Before joining NASA, he flew more than 40 aircraft during his U.S. Navy career, which included combat deployments and test pilot assignments. A veteran of four spacewalks, he is the first Black astronaut ever to be sent on a lunar mission.

MISSION SPECIALIST CHRISTINA KOCH

Koch, 47, holds the record for the longest continuous spaceflight by a woman after spending 328 days aboard the International Space Station in 2019. She also took part in NASA’s first three all-female spacewalks.

Trained as an electrical engineer and physicist, she previously worked as a NASA engineer and conducted extended research missions in Antarctica. She is the first woman to fly on a moon-bound mission.

MISSION SPECIALIST JEREMY HANSEN

Hansen, 50, a colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force, will become the first Canadian and the first non-U.S. citizen to take part in a lunar mission, even as he embarks on his first spaceflight.

Selected for Canada’s astronaut corps in 2009, his inclusion on Artemis II highlights the longstanding U.S.–Canadian partnership in human space exploration, including Canada’s contributions to robotics used aboard the International Space Station. (Reuters)