Maryland’s Reid Wiseman will travel to space as a commander in the first crewed mission of the Artemis lunar expedition NASA announced Monday.
The Baltimore native graduated from Dulaney High School in Timonium in 1993 before pursuing a bachelor’s degree in computer and systems engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute according to a press release. He was a member of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) and was commissioned to Pensacola, Florida for flight training in 1997.
After training in Florida and Virginia, Wiseman made two deployments to the Middle East and one to South America before he was chosen for astronaut training while at sea. He also earned a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University in 2006 while working at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland.
In 2014, Wiseman spent 165 days completing Expedition 41 for research on an assortment of topics at the International Space Station. Upon his return to earth, he assumed the position of chief of the Astronaut Office in 2020, stepping down in November 2022. He will be joined by three other experienced astronauts, Victor Glover and Christina Hammock Koch from the U.S. and Jeremy Hansen from Canada.
Artemis II marks the return to lunar exploration since the Apollo missions. Artemis III will follow in 2025, which will be the first human moon landing since 1972. More history will be made as the mission opens the opportunity for the first woman and first person of color on the moon.
The four-person crew in Artemis II will set off past the moon and stars in 2024 for 10 days. Orion spacecraft life-support systems and techniques for humans to live and work in deep space will be tested in the mission. Through Artemis, NASA hopes to continue developing future long-term exploration of the moon and then eventually, human exploration of Mars.
(Featured photo courtesy of NASA)
…and rounding out our #Artemis II Moon crew: mission commander @Astro_Reid!
Reid Wiseman lived & worked aboard the @Space_Station as a flight engineer in 2014. He also commanded the undersea research mission NEEMO21, and most recently served as Chief of the @NASA_Astronauts. pic.twitter.com/AincR66wpf
— NASA (@NASA) April 3, 2023
Here they are. @SenBillNelson announces the #Artemis II crew, the next astronauts to fly around the Moon:@Astro_Christina@Astro_Jeremy@AstroVicGlover@Astro_Reid
We go together. https://t.co/XdUizg2Wye pic.twitter.com/6Yo4I2lKeJ
— NASA (@NASA) April 3, 2023
