The countdown is on until NASA’s first moon mission in more than half a century, and the quarantined astronauts who’ll be travelling into space have taken part in a Q&A.
Artemis II will take four astronauts – NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, plus Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency – on a 10-day flight around the moon.
The launch date has been set for Wednesday (1 April) and since Friday, the crew has been living in quarantine at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
Revealing what life is like at the historic facility, Mr Wiseman described the crew quarters as “an amazing place to be”.
“The folks who are cooking for us, their shirts are just covered in patches from other missions,” he said in a Q&A via video link on Sunday.
“When you walk down the halls, you see names in foreign languages, you can think about the places they were born, the lives they have lived and the legacy that we’re a part of.
“It’s a very, very special place. This is where humanity began reaching for the stars.”
The Apollo missions also launched from the Florida space centre. Pic: NASA via Reutersv
The Artemis II mission will mark a number of firsts, with pilot Mr Glover becoming the first black astronaut on a lunar mission, while Ms Koch will be the first woman and Mr Hansen the first Canadian.
Mr Glover shared conflicting feelings as he addressed this at the Q&A.
He explained: “I live in this dichotomy between happiness that a woman can look at Christina and physicalise her passion or her interest. And that young brown boys and girls can look at me and go, ‘he’s doing what?’.
“But I also hope we’re pushing in that other direction that one day, we don’t have to talk about these firsts.”
Ms Koch said: “Something to add, is that…
