All About Victor Glover, NASA’s Artemis II Pilot!

NASA astronaut Victor Glover is all set for his expedition around the moon on Artemis II as the crew’s pilot. 

On Monday, April 3, 2023, NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) announced the news through a televised news conference. Glover was selected for the expedition along with three other astronauts, and he was proclaimed the pilot of the Orion spacecraft.     

Glover will be accompanied by Commander Reid Wiseman, Mission Specialist 1 Christina Hammock Koch, and Mission Specialist 2 Jeremy Hansen of Canada. The four astronauts will execute the ambitious demonstrations in their flight test together. 

As the news was disclosed on Monday, people were eager to know more about the astronaut selected for the space agency’s Artemis II mission. Here’s all you need to know about Victor Glover.

Who Is Victor Glover?

Victor Jerome Glover is a NASA astronaut of the class of 2013 who will pilot NASA’s Artemis II Mission Around the Moon. He is a captain and F/A-18 pilot in the U.S. Navy. He even served as the Pilot on the first operational flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon to the International Space Station.

The astronaut was born in Pomona, California, United States, on April 30, 1976. He attended Ontario High School and even graduated from the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California, with a bachelor’s in general engineering. Also, he graduated from the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School.  

Glover served as an Ensign in the United States Navy in 1999 and received his initial flight training at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. In 2001, he earned his naval aviator wings. 

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Victor Jerome Glover’s Career In NASA

Glover was selected as one of the eight members of the 21st NASA astronaut class in 2013 and is NASA’s first black astronaut to live on the ISS. 

He completed Astronaut Candidate Training which includes scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in International Space Station systems, spacewalks, robotics, physiological training, T-38 flight training, and water and wilderness survival training. 

The 46-year-old astronaut was a member of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft that went on the SpaceX Crew-1 and Expedition 64 in late 2021. It was a long-duration mission aboard the International Space Station.

In this space expenditure, he even served as a Flight Engineer. Apart from these, he has even done scientific research, technology demonstrations, crop cultivation, and even took hundreds of photographs of Earth from space. 

Victor Jerome Glover’s NASA Expedition

Glover joined NASA in June 2013 as one of the Astronaut Group 21. Prior to joining NASA, he was in the military and even served for Sen John McCain. 

As mentioned above, he was chosen as a pilot for the space agency’s Artemis II mission on Monday. It is the US’ first lunar mission in a half-century which is presently planned to orbit the Moon by the end of 2024. He will be the first person of color to take an expedition to deep space. 

According to NASA officials, the various crew assignments illustrate the cultural shifts that occurred since the original Apollo missions ended in 1972. During that time, white men dominated space exploration. But things are getting much better these days. 

From the records, Glover is the first black man to live in the International Space Station(ISS) and one of the 15 African Americans who were selected as astronauts. 

In the upcoming mission that’ll launch in 2024, the four astronauts will have to test the new technology. This includes the heat shields which keep the Orion spacecraft safe in its travels through deep space.

If the mission is a success, then NASA is planning to launch an expedition to land on the moon named Artemis III.

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