Cal Poly Alumnus Victor Glover pilots NASA’s first lunar mission in 50 Years on Artemis II.
The goal is to “confirm all the spacecraft’s systems operate as designed with crew aboard in the actual environment of deep space,” which will hopefully lead to future lunar surface missions and establishing long-term lunar science and exploration capabilities, according to NASA.
The mission will last approximately 10 days. For about two days, as they remained relatively close to Earth, the crew tested Orion’s systems and performed a “targeting demonstration test” before continuing on toward the moon.
The trip took the crew on a wide orbital path around the moon, which could bring them farther from Earth than humans have ever been before.
In addition to Glover, the other members are Commander Reid Wiseman, Mission Specialist 1 Christina Hammock Koch, and Mission Specialist 2 Jeremy Hansen.
