In this photo: the Artemis II crew — and Toto, of course.
Christina Koch, Jeremy Hansen, Reid Wiseman, and Victor Glover are preparing for a mission that could shape the future of human space exploration.🚀 As the spacecraft travels behind the far side of the Moon, it will lose contact with Earth for 45 minutes. Victor Glover said:
“I’d be delighted if the whole world — all 8 billion people — could come together and simply hope and pray that we regain signal.”🪐 The crew has been training since 2022 — almost four years. For comparison, ISS crews usually prepare for 1.5 to 2 years. The gap is huge, but so is the challenge: a new spacecraft and a mission unlike any flown in over 50 years.✨ The spacecraft also carries chips with human organ tissues to help researchers better understand the effects of deep-space radiation.🚀Artemis II is a rehearsal for a future lunar landing planned for later this decade — and for the long road toward Mars.