NASA to announce Artemis II crew names soon

NASA will announce on Monday the final names of the astronauts who will be flying to the moon, allowing humans to once again go deep into space after five decades, AFP reported.

According to reports, the astronauts participating in the mission will be three US citizens and a Canadian.

NASA's lunar mission Artemis II is scheduled to take off in November 2024 and it will be carrying the mission's first astronauts to the moon.

The astronauts will even go deeper into space since the mission of Apollo. Artemis II's four-membered mission will not be stopping on the surface of the moon but will be circling around it.

The orbiting will allow the scientists of Artemis III to set foot on the moon in 2025 after five decades with the help of NASA's powerful space rocket costing up to $100 billion by then.

During the Apollo mission, humans set foot on the earth's satellite for the first time. The mission ended in 1972.

After months-long discussion, NASA has decided to publicise the names of the Artemis II astronauts in a ceremony set to commence in Johnson Space Center in Houston at 11 am.

The duration of the Artemis II mission will be ten days, testing NASA's Space Launch Rocket as well as the life-support systems aboard the Orion spacecraft.

NASA intends to make a long-term human presence on the moon and eventually initiate their journey to Mars.

Bill Nelson, NASA administrator said in an event "What's Next Summit" that astronauts are likely to travel to Mars by 2040.

The Artemis I mission was completed in December with an uncrewed Orion capsule returning safely to Earth after a 25-day journey around the Moon going farther than any habitable spacecraft.

Nelson noted that "Space is hard. You have to wait until you know that it's as safe as possible because you're living right on the edge."

Only 12 white men have set foot on the Moon so far.