NASA names woman, Black astronauts to Artemis II crew in lunar first | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Saturday
June 21, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
SATURDAY, JUNE 21, 2025
NASA names woman, Black astronauts to Artemis II crew in lunar first

Science

Reuters
04 April, 2023, 02:25 am
Last modified: 04 April, 2023, 10:22 am

Related News

  • Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon
  • Huge planet discovered orbiting tiny star puzzles scientists
  • Trump pulls Musk ally's NASA nomination, will announce replacement
  • NASA astronauts Butch and Suni emerge from recovery after long Starliner mission
  • For the stargazers: How 2 planets will form 'smiley face' with moon on 25 April 

NASA names woman, Black astronauts to Artemis II crew in lunar first

Artemis II will mark the debut crewed flight - but not the first lunar landing - of an Apollo successor program aimed at returning astronauts to the moon's surface later this decade and ultimately establishing a sustainable outpost there as a stepping stone to future human exploration of Mars.

Reuters
04 April, 2023, 02:25 am
Last modified: 04 April, 2023, 10:22 am
The Artemis team members pose for a photo at an event during which NASA announces the crew of the Artemis II space mission to the moon and back in Houston, Texas, U.S., April 3, 2023. REUTERS/Go Nakamura
The Artemis team members pose for a photo at an event during which NASA announces the crew of the Artemis II space mission to the moon and back in Houston, Texas, U.S., April 3, 2023. REUTERS/Go Nakamura

NASA on Monday named the first woman and the first African American ever assigned as astronauts to a lunar mission, introducing them as part of the four-member team chosen to fly on what would be the first crewed voyage around the moon in more than 50 years.

Christina Koch, 44, an engineer who already holds the record for longest continuous spaceflight by a woman and was part of NASA's first three all-female spacewalks, was named as a mission specialist for the Artemis II lunar flyby expected as early as next year.

She will be joined by Victor Glover, 46, a US Navy aviator and veteran of four spacewalks who NASA has designated as pilot of Artemis II. He will be the first Black astronaut ever to be sent on a lunar mission.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

Rounding out the crew are Jeremy Hansen, a Royal Canadian Air Force colonel and first Canadian ever chosen for a flight to the moon, as a mission specialist, and Reid Wiseman, another former US Navy fighter pilot, named as mission commander. Both are 47.

All three NASA astronauts chosen for the Artemis II mission are veterans of previous expeditions aboard the International Space Station. Hansen, an astronaut from the Canadian Space Agency, is a spaceflight rookie.

The Artemis II quartet were introduced at a pep rally-like event attended by journalists, local elementary school students and space industry leaders, televised from Houston at the Johnson Space Center, NASA's mission control base.

"The Artemis II crew represents thousands of people working tirelessly to bring us to the stars. This is humanity's crew," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said on stage. "We are going."

US President Joe Biden privately called the four on Sunday to congratulate them, the White House said.

Artemis II will mark the debut crewed flight - but not the first lunar landing - of an Apollo successor program aimed at returning astronauts to the moon's surface later this decade and ultimately establishing a sustainable outpost there as a stepping stone to future human exploration of Mars.

The kickoff Artemis I mission was successfully completed in December 2022, capping the inaugural launch of NASA's powerful next-generation mega-rocket and its newly built Orion spacecraft on an uncrewed test flight that lasted 25 days.

The objective of the 10-day Artemis II journey around the moon and back, is to demonstrate that all of Orion's life-support apparatus and other systems will operate as designed with astronauts aboard in deep space.

Artemis II will venture some 6,400 miles (10,300 km) beyond the far side of the moon before returning, marking the closest pass humans have made to Earth's natural satellite since Apollo 17, which carried Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt to the lunar surface in December 1972.

They were the last of 12 NASA astronauts - all of them white men - who walked on the moon during six Apollo missions starting in 1969 with Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin.

LUNAR FLIGHT PLAN

At its farthest distance from Earth, Artemis II is expected to reach a point more than 230,000 miles (370,000 km) away. The typical low-Earth orbit altitude of the International Space Station is about 250 miles above the planet.

Carried to Earth orbit atop NASA's two-stage Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, the Artemis II crew will practice manual maneuvers with the Orion spacecraft before handing back to ground control for further tests and the lunar flyby portion of the mission.

After looping around the moon, Orion will use gravity of the Earth and moon to send it on a propulsion-free return flight lasting about four more days, ending in a splashdown at sea.

If Artemis II succeeds, NASA plans to follow a few years later with an unprecedented landing on the moon's south pole with astronauts, one of them a woman, on Artemis III. Further crewed missions would follow about once a year.

Compared with the Apollo, born of the Cold War-era US-Soviet space race, Artemis is a broader based program, enlisting commercial partners such as Elon Musk's SpaceX and the space agencies of Canada, Europe and Japan.

It marks a major redirection of NASA's human spaceflight ambitions beyond low-Earth orbit after decades focused on flights to and from the space station.

Top News

NASA / Artemis II

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • A missile launched from Iran is intercepted as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, June 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
    Israel attacks Isfahan nuclear facility, says it killed Quds Palestinian Corps commander as Iran fires more missiles
  • AMM Nasir Uddin. File photo: Collected.
    No matter how independent EC is, elections impossible without govt cooperation: CEC
  • US Ambassador Dorothy Shea. Photo: Collected
    US ambassador mistakenly says Israel ‘spreading terror’

MOST VIEWED

  • Collage of the two Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) students held over raping classmate after rendering her unconscious and filming videos. Photos: Collected
    2 SUST students held for allegedly rendering female classmate unconscious, raping her, filming nude videos
  • BUET Professor Md Ehsan stands beside his newly designed autorickshaw—just 3.2 metres long and 1.5 metres wide—built for two passengers to ensure greater stability and prevent tipping. With a safety-focused top speed of 30 km/h, the vehicle can be produced at an estimated cost of Tk1.5 lakh. Photo: Junayet Rashel
    Buet’s smart fix for Dhaka's autorickshaws
  • File photo of containers at Chattogram port/TBS
    3-month interim extension sought for Saif Powertec to operate Ctg port terminal
  • Photo: Collected
    All BTS members officially complete military service as Suga gets discharged
  • 6 govt officials, including 5 secretaries, sent on forced retirement
    6 govt officials, including 5 secretaries, sent on forced retirement
  • Study finds alarming mercury levels in popular skin creams sold in Bangladesh
    Study finds alarming mercury levels in popular skin creams sold in Bangladesh

Related News

  • Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon
  • Huge planet discovered orbiting tiny star puzzles scientists
  • Trump pulls Musk ally's NASA nomination, will announce replacement
  • NASA astronauts Butch and Suni emerge from recovery after long Starliner mission
  • For the stargazers: How 2 planets will form 'smiley face' with moon on 25 April 

Features

Airmen look at a GBU-57, or Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb, at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, US in 2023. Photo: Collected

Is the US preparing for direct military action in Iran?

2h | Panorama
Monsoon in Bandarban’s hilly hiking trails means endless adventure — something hundreds of Bangladeshi hikers eagerly await each year. But the risks are sometimes not worth the reward. Photo: Collected

Tragedy on the trail: The deadly cost of unregulated adventure tourism in Bangladesh’s hills

18h | Panorama
BUET Professor Md Ehsan stands beside his newly designed autorickshaw—just 3.2 metres long and 1.5 metres wide—built for two passengers to ensure greater stability and prevent tipping. With a safety-focused top speed of 30 km/h, the vehicle can be produced at an estimated cost of Tk1.5 lakh. Photo: Junayet Rashel

Buet’s smart fix for Dhaka's autorickshaws

1d | Features
Evacuation of Bangladeshis: Where do they go next from conflict-ridden Iran?

Evacuation of Bangladeshis: Where do they go next from conflict-ridden Iran?

2d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Public Conflict Between Trump and Federal Reserve Chairman

Public Conflict Between Trump and Federal Reserve Chairman

55m | TBS World
Western firepower lands in Israel: 14 cargo planes arrive

Western firepower lands in Israel: 14 cargo planes arrive

3h | TBS News Updates
News of The Day, 20 JUNE 2025

News of The Day, 20 JUNE 2025

18h | TBS News of the day
Israel strikes Iranian missile launch site

Israel strikes Iranian missile launch site

19h | TBS World
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net