NASA announced the names of the participants of the first piloted mission "Artemis" to the moon

The American space agency NASA declared the names of four astronauts, which are expected to fly around the moon in 2024 as part of the Artemis-2 mission (Artemis-2).

According to the NASA website, the lunar mission included three Americans Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Reed Wissman, as well as Canadian Jeremy Hansen.

NASA emphasized that four astronauts will be the first people to fly to the moon in more than 50 years. In addition, a woman, African American and Canadian will enter the crew of the lunar mission for the first time, noted in the space agency.

The flight to the moon will take place no earlier than November 2024. It is expected that the Artemis-2 mission will last ten days. After launch, the second stage of the SLS spacecraft (Space Launch System) will display the Orion spacecraft into an elliptical orbit, which will be held at an altitude of up to 2900 kilometers above the ground, writes The New York Times. Then the Orion will come to the moon, but will not go out into its orbit, and instead, using moon gravity, will return to Earth.

• In December 2022, the Artemis-1 mission ended, during which the Orion ship in a test unmanned mode took a flight to the moon, spent several weeks in its orbit and returned to Earth.
• Not earlier than 2025, the Artemis-3 mission will take place, during which astronauts plan to land on the surface of the moon.