Artemis II moonshot commander and pilot are hanging up their astronaut suits at NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The two NASA astronauts who led the Artemis II moonshot earlier this year are stepping away from spaceflight.

NASA announced Wednesday that Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman and pilot Victor Glover will no longer serve as active astronauts but will continue to support the moon exploration program as emeritus astronauts.

Glover has taken a leadership job at his alma mater, California Polytechnic State University, while Wiseman’s future plans weren’t disclosed. They flew around the moon in April with two other astronauts, setting a new distance record for humanity.

Artemis II’s Jeremy Hansen retired from the Canadian Space Agency in July. That leaves Christina Koch as the only crew member still on the active astronaut rolls.

As emeritus astronauts, Wiseman and Glover will donate their time to train and mentor NASA workers and share their knowledge for future moon missions. It’s a new approach to taking advantage of expertise, according to the space agency.

“Together, they took on one of the most challenging missions in human spaceflight and helped return America to the lunar environment,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a statement. “I’m grateful they will continue sharing what they learned.”

Cal Poly said Glover will help shape long-term strategies and inspire students to study science and engineering. His new job in San Luis Obispo took effect Sept. 1, the same day he retired from the Navy.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Glover stressed “this is not a leaving … for me, this is opening the aperture, not closing it down.”

“I want to keep talking about how faith and science work together in my life,” Glover said. “That’s not NASA’s mission, but I can still help NASA from the sidelines.”

Instead of waiting to command a moon-landing mission, Glover said he decided to put spaceflight behind in order to focus his efforts on young people and spend more time with his wife and four daughters. Three of his daughters are currently enrolled at Cal Poly. The oldest has already graduated from there.

Wiseman’s status change will take effect this month. Chosen by NASA as an astronaut in 2009, the retired Navy captain spent more than five months aboard the International Space Station in 2014, later becoming the space agency’s chief astronaut.

After graduating from Cal Poly in 1999, Glover became a Navy test pilot before NASA picked him to be an astronaut in 2013. He served as pilot on SpaceX’s second crew flight for NASA, a nearly six-month mission to the space station in 2020 and 2021.

Glover’s eloquence stood out while flying to and from the moon.

Earth is an oasis in “a whole bunch of nothing, this thing we call the universe” where humanity exists as one, he observed from space. “This is an opportunity for us to remember where we are, who we are, and that we are the same thing and that we’ve got to get through this together.”

Wiseman also tugged at heartstrings as he and his crew asked for permission to name one of the moon’s craters after his late wife Carroll, who died of cancer in 2020.

Last month, the Artemis II crew received the Congressional Space Medal of Honor from President Donald Trump during a ceremony at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

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