Baltimore-born astronaut Reid Wiseman will command Artemis II, NASA’s first crewed lunar mission since 1972
A Maryland connection to a milestone flight test
NASA has set its next major lunar milestone around a Baltimore native: Reid Wiseman, a retired U.S. Navy captain and veteran astronaut, is the commander of Artemis II, the first crewed mission of the Artemis program and the first time astronauts will travel toward the Moon since Apollo 17 in December 1972.
Wiseman, 50, grew up in Baltimore County and is a graduate of Dulaney High School. He later earned a master’s degree in systems engineering at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Wiseman was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2009 and previously flew to the International Space Station in 2014, spending 165 days in orbit.
What Artemis II is designed to do
Artemis II is a flight test intended to validate systems needed for deep-space human operations. The mission will launch the Orion spacecraft atop NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket from Kennedy Space Center and send a crew of four on an approximately 10-day journey that loops around the Moon and returns to Earth.
Unlike later Artemis missions, Artemis II is not a landing attempt. Its purpose is to demonstrate crewed performance across critical elements of the architecture, including Orion’s life-support and crew systems, communications and navigation beyond low Earth orbit, and end-to-end mission operations culminating in high-speed atmospheric reentry and ocean recovery.
The crew and the mission’s international dimension
NASA’s Artemis II crew pairs U.S. astronauts with a Canadian Space Agency astronaut, reflecting the program’s broader reliance on international partnerships. In addition to Wiseman as commander, the crew includes NASA astronauts Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
Reid Wiseman (Commander) leads mission execution and crew performance.
Victor Glover (Pilot) serves as the mission’s pilot and is a veteran of long-duration spaceflight.
Christina Koch (Mission Specialist) brings extensive experience from her International Space Station assignment.
Jeremy Hansen (Mission Specialist) is slated to become the first Canadian to travel to lunar vicinity.
Launch timing and recent schedule shifts
NASA is targeting a launch opportunity opening April 1, 2026, with a published liftoff time of 6:24 p.m. EDT for that date, subject to final readiness assessments. NASA has acknowledged that Artemis II’s schedule has shifted from earlier targets, with technical issues during ground testing—particularly hydrogen-related leaks and other processing challenges—contributing to delays.
Artemis II is structured as a proving flight: the objective is to certify the rocket, spacecraft, and operations with astronauts aboard before attempting a crewed lunar landing on a later mission.
Why Baltimore is watching
For Baltimore and the surrounding region, Wiseman’s role is a direct local link to a national spaceflight milestone. If Artemis II launches as planned, a Baltimore-raised astronaut will command the first crew to travel into lunar vicinity in more than five decades—an outcome that ties a hometown trajectory to one of NASA’s most technically demanding human spaceflight efforts since the Apollo era.