NASA's Latest Moon Expedition Includes the First Woman and First Black Man

By: Mariama Bah

This past week, NASA made history by revealing the four astronauts who would participate in their most recent lunar trip, including a woman and a black astronaut. This will be the first lunar expedition in fifty years and follows a long tradition of solely white astronauts exploring space. By 2024, the Artemis II program hopes to launch four humans to the moon and usher in a new age of space exploration.

Astronaut Christina Koch, the first female chosen for the Artemis mission, has already logged 328 days in space during her last mission to the International Space Station. In October 2019, she took part in the first-ever all-female spacewalk. She joined NASA as an astronaut for the first time in 2013 and now, a decade later, has been selected as the mission's first female crew member. In addition, Victor Glover, who has already completed his first space trip on the Crew-1 mission to the International Space Station, has been chosen as the first black astronaut for the task. He was also selected in 2013 to be a NASA astronaut, and is currently the mission's designated pilot.

The Artemis program strongly emphasizes diversity and inclusion – NASA has stated that it is committed to creating a more diverse and inclusive workforce, which is reflected in the 2020 selection of astronauts for the program. The 18 astronauts chosen for the Artemis program, including nine women and several people of color, were revealed by NASA in December 2020. Dr. Jonny Kim, a former Navy SEAL and physician, will make history by becoming the first Korean-American to travel to the moon; Jessica Watkins will be the first black woman to go to the moon in NASA’s Artemis expeditions.

This historic milestone is a significant step forward in NASA's efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in the space industry. NASA is committed to ensuring that its workforce and astronaut corps reflect the diversity of the American people, and recruiting a woman and a person of color in this mission is an important step towards achieving that goal. The Artemis program represents a new era of space exploration that is more inclusive, collaborative, and sustainable than ever before.

Image from CNN