The personal items the Artemis II crew are taking to the Moon

BBC:

Four astronauts are about to become the most closely watched crew since Apollo.

They will be the first to orbit the moon for more than 50 years, testing the path back for the next generation.

The crew includes three Nasa astronauts – Commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch – along with Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency.

Not only are they accomplished pilots, engineers and scientists, they are also spouses and parents balancing a heroic adventure against the risks they and their loved ones will face.

Reid Wiseman is a US Navy test pilot turned astronaut, who spent six months on the International Space Station in 2014 as a flight engineer on Expedition 40. Wiseman says he has a lifelong love of flying, but on the ground he’s afraid of heights.

He will command Artemis II in what is the second flight of the Orion spacecraft, and the first to carry people around the Moon in more than 50 years.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Wiseman lost his wife to cancer in 2020 and has raised their two teenage daughters alone. He describes being a single parent as his “greatest challenge and the most rewarding phase” of his life.

He has not shielded his children from the realities of risk, however. While out on a walk with them, he said: “Here’s where the will is, here’s where the trust documents are, and if anything happens to me, here’s what’s going to happen to you… That’s part of this life.”

He says he wishes more families had that conversation – because “you never know what the next day is going to bring”.