HOUSTON, TEXAS — The four astronauts selected for NASA's Artemis II mission made a public appearance at a university basketball final in Houston, Texas, celebrating with fans ahead of their lunar orbit mission. The Artemis II crew includes NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

The astronauts will orbit the Moon as part of the Artemis II mission, marking the first time humans have orbited the Moon in more than 50 years. Christina Koch will become the first woman to travel to the Moon on the mission. If all goes to plan, Jeremy Hansen will become the first non-American to travel to the Moon on Artemis II.

Koch described how a childhood poster of Bill Anders' Earthrise photograph from Apollo 8 inspired her career path. "The fact that it was a human behind that lens made that picture so much more profound and changed the way we thought of our own home," Koch said. She decided to become an astronaut when she learned that a human, not an automatic camera, had taken the famous photograph.

"The Moon was not just a symbol for thinking about our place in the Universe, it is a beacon for science and understanding where we came from," Koch said. Koch plans to take handwritten notes from people close to her as her personal item on the mission.

Reid Wiseman, who serves as commander, praised his crewmates. "When I look at Victor, Christina and Jeremy, they want to go do this mission, they are keenly driven, they are humble to a fault. It is so cool to be around them," Wiseman said.