Victor Glover has made history this month as the first first Black astronaut in a lunar mission. This April 1, NASA’s Artemis II mission launched from kennedy Space Center in Florida, which sent fou astronauts on a 10 day journey to Moon’s vicinity for the first time in over five decades. And among them was Victor Glover, a name that has now created history.
Victor Jerome Glover Jr. was born on April 30, 1976, in Pomona, California amd his resume is genuinely impressive and intimidating. Glover earned a Bachelor of Science degree in general engineering from California Polytechnic State University in 1999 and later obtained a Master of Science degree in flight test engineering from the Air University at Edwards Air Force Base, followed by a Master of Science degree in systems engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School, and eventually a Master of Military Operational Art and Science from the Air University in Montgomery, Alabama.
He was the selected as an astronaut in 2013 while serving as a Legislative Fellow in the United States Senate. Before Artemis II, he already had serious space experience under his belt as he became the first Black astronaut to complete a long duration stay aboard the International Space Station, spending time there as part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission. He served as a pilot on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1, where he spent 168 days in space. As a flight engineer aboard the space station, he contributed to scientific investigations, technology demonstrations, and participated in four spacewalks. So by the time Artemis II rolled around, Glover was technically one of the most qualified people alive for the job.
Of over 350 NASA astronauts who have traveled to space, only 13 have been Black. That context makes what Glover did land even harder.
Victor Glover’s experience with Artemis II
Speaking about the mission, Victor Glover spoke to CNN and stated,
“When this started, I wanted to thank God in public, and I want to thank God again, because even bigger than my challenge trying to describe what we went through, the gratitude of seeing what we saw, doing what we did, and being with who I was with, it’s too big to just be in one body.”
He then extended his thanks to his family, adding,
“And I wanted to thank our families for everything. I love you, but not just those five beautiful cocoa-skinned ladies right there. All of you.”
Artemis II marks the first crewed flight around the Moon in over 50 years, as well as NASA’s first mission with crew aboard the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft. The goal of the mission was to confirm all the spacecraft’s systems operate as designed with crew aboard in the actual environment of deep space.
The crew assignments were as follows: Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist 1 Christina Koch, and Mission Specialist 2 Jeremy Hansen. Among the four crew members, Victor Glover is the first person of color, Christina Koch the first woman, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen the first non-American on a lunar mission. So this crew was breaking records in basically every direction.
Edited by Nibir Konwar