Baltimore astronaut chosen for Artemis II mission around moon

BALTIMORE -- When the Orion Spacecraft roars straight up into the sky from NASA's Kennedy Space center in Florida next year, Baltimore's own Reid Wiseman will be on that flight.

"Absolutely, fundamentally never imagined I would be in this position," Wiseman said. "I'm just a kid growing up on the Loch Raven reservoir in Springdale. I was really fascinated by trains and planes and anything human hands can create."

On Monday, the Baltimore native was named as one of four astronauts selected to be part of an international mission marking a move forward for NASA in nearly 50 years.

Wiseman will be joined by Christina Koch, the first woman assigned to a lunar mission; Victor Glover, a U.S Navy Aviator recognized as the first Black astronaut to ever be sent on a lunar mission. Rounding out the crew is Canadian Air Force colonel Jeremy Hansen.

The flight is scheduled for November 2024.

"We really are that first check out of this system and it's going to be amazing, and we get to do it by going out to the moon, how's that," Wiseman said.

The 47-year-old said adding to the excitement of being picked for the moon mission is how he found out.

"We all showed up late to the meeting," Wiseman said. "We didn't know what the meeting was about. It was like cloaks and daggers. It was actually put on our calendars as something completely different."

During the virtual meeting, he learned he will be returning to space. But this time, he is a commander of a four-member team.

"I used Teams to dial into the meeting, and when the camera came on, my boss, his boss, Victor Glover and Christina Koch were already in the room, and so I was like, 'oh my gosh, I think I just missed the Artemis Crew II assignment.' It was a really funny moment of humanity there," Wiseman said.

The Naval Aviator will lead the team on a 10-day Artemis II mission around the moon and back to ensure that all systems operate as designed.

"Our job as the first crew to fly the Orion spacecraft is just to take it out for a test drive, shake the system out, see what works, see what needs to be fixed for the next missions," Wiseman said.

The crew will be preparing for the Artemis II mission.

Wiseman said he will put his trust in engineers to prepare the crew for the flight.

"We will train, we will train and train and train until we know every possible failure mode and we are ready to go flying," Wiseman said.