NASA is Coming Back with a Bang!

Story by Kayla Adames. Photo courtesy of NASA.

Do you know when the last lunar space mission was? It was 50 years ago in 1972 when Apollo 17’s mission went to the moon and back. That means that Artemis 2 is the first lunar mission in half a century.

On this, the Artemis 2 mission, NASA astronauts' Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Hammock Koch, and the Canadian Space Agency's Jeremy Hansen, will be going to the moon. Reid Wiseman is a native of Baltimore who has done a 165 day trip to the International Space Station. Not too far behind is the pilot of Artemis, Victor Glover, who has recently been on a mission with SpaceX on Resilience as a pilot. Christina Hammock Koch will be the mission specialist, and is a world record holder for longest single space flight for a woman. Last, but not least, Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen will be going to space for the first time with his American crew members.

All the astronauts on this mission have important jobs, and are ready to take them on. This mission is also full of some great firsts. Reid Wiseman will be the first person of color to go to the moon, and Christina Hammock will be the first woman to go to the moon. This trip to the moon is also a part of a greater mission. Its predecessor, the first Artemis, was the most powerful rocket ever to fly up into space. But not only that, the mission that the Artemis project is trying to achieve is human space exploration of the moon, and eventually Mars. If successful, this mission will get us closer to putting people on Mars, and then bring them back home with amazing research to share.

Although it has been 54 years since people have been sent to the moon, we’re ready for NASA and the Canadian Space Agency to show us how it’s done. So save the date, November 2024, when space history will be made!

Kayla Adames is an 8th grade scholar at Friendship Woodridge International School.