(NewsNation) — The U.S. is working to send humans back to the moon for the first time since the 1970s and NewsNation got a first look at the training astronauts are undergoing in preparation.
NASA and the Department of Defense are leading the exercises in preparation for the first crewed Artemis flight set to fly around the moon and back in 2025.
Off the coast of San Diego, California, astronauts are undergoing rigorous training for the 10-day mission that will travel roughly 685,000 miles around the moon.
“Just a few hours ago, we’re floating around on the front porch in the middle of the Pacific Ocean at night with a helicopter hovering over us,” said Reid Wiseman, Artemis commander.
“We’re already pretty inspired and pumped up about the space program,” said mission specialist Jeremy Hansen. “But when you see it, when you see all these sailors on the ship working together, it gives you faith in humanity. We can do some extraordinary things.”
NASA and the DoD are testing procedures and tools that will ultimately be used to retrieve the astronauts after their long journey.
That includes testing the Orion spacecraft, or at least a test module of it, with heat shields that have actually been to space in the windows to simulate what astronauts will be looking out of when going to explore the moon.
“We explore because that’s what we do as humans,” said mission specialist Christina Koch.
Koch is a trailblazer, setting the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman with 328 days in space. With NASA’s Artemis mission, she will be the first woman who will set foot on the moon.
Koch won’t be the only trailblazer on the mission. Victor Glover, who has a storied career himself, will be the first person of color to set foot on the lunar surface.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re the first, if there’s no second, third, fourth,” Glover said. “That’s what I think about, is making sure that we do the best at our job so the American people and our international partners continue to have faith in their public space agencies so we can keep going and exploring further.”
The astronauts will continue to train throughout the year in preparation for next year’s mission.