Who NASA May Send to the Moon

There are no people on this Artemis I mission. But in the years ahead, astronauts from NASA and other space agencies will go back to the moon.

For Artemis II, currently scheduled for 2024, four astronauts will orbit the moon but will not go to the surface.

There will be four more astronauts aboard the Artemis III mission. Two of them will land on the moon near the south pole. That landing is scheduled for 2025, but the dates for both missions are widely expected to slip.

As to who will be on Artemis II and Artemis III, NASA has not yet named names. All the space agency has said is that all active astronauts — NASA currently lists 43 of them — are eligible for those missions.

In addition, some “management astronauts” who are not currently eligible could return to active status, and astronaut candidates will also be eligible for the moon missions once they finish their training.

When the Trump administration announced that it was accelerating the moon program, aiming for astronauts landing in 2024, NASA said the Artemis III crew would include “the first woman and the next man” to walk on the moon.

Under the Biden administration, the phrasing has changed. NASA now refers to “the first woman and first person of color,” but more generally, to “Artemis missions” instead of specifically Artemis III.

As part of Canada’s agreement to participate in the Artemis program — Canada is contributing a robotic arm that will be part of the outpost orbiting the moon, known as Gateway — a Canadian astronaut will be part of the Artemis II crew.

An astronaut from the European Space Agency is to be part of the Artemis IV crew, which will the first to go to Gateway. That mission is to deliver a European-built habitation module to Gateway.

source: nytimes.com