NASA honors astronauts who traveled to moon as historic launch nears

By Dean Murray

As astronauts set to blast off to the moon, NASA has celebrated the 24 previous spacemen who have taken the trip.

NASA History Office shared a montage of them with the message: "These are the 24 humans who have traveled to the Moon to date, 12 of whom walked on its surface."

On their social media post, they added: "With Artemis II, we look forward to adding @astro_reid, @AstroVicGlover, @Astro_Christina and @Astro_Jeremy to this photo!"

NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen are scheduled to launch April 1, with additional launch opportunities through Monday, April 6.

Artemis II is NASA’s first crewed mission under the Artemis program and will launch from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

On an approximately 10-day journey around the moon, the agency will test the Orion spacecraft’s life support systems for the first time with people and lay the groundwork for future crewed Artemis missions.

NASA said they aim to eventually land the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface.

The composite image shows the 24 astronauts who flew on NASA’s Apollo lunar missions (1968–1972).

Top row (left to right):

Frank Borman – Orbited only (Apollo 8 Commander)

James Lovell – Orbited only (Apollo 8 CMP, Apollo 13 Commander)

William Anders – Orbited only (Apollo 8 LMP)

Eugene Cernan – Walked on Moon (Apollo 17 Commander; also Apollo 10 LMP)

John Young – Walked on Moon (Apollo 16 Commander; also Apollo 10 CMP)

Thomas Stafford – Orbited only (Apollo 10 Commander)

Second row (left to right):

Neil Armstrong – Walked on Moon (Apollo 11 Commander)

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Buzz Aldrin – Walked on Moon (Apollo 11 LMP)

Michael Collins – Orbited only (Apollo 11 CMP)

Charles “Pete” Conrad – Walked on Moon (Apollo 12 Commander)

Richard Gordon – Orbited only (Apollo 12 CMP)

Alan Bean – Walked on Moon (Apollo 12 LMP)

Third row (left to right):

Alan Shepard – Walked on Moon (Apollo 14 Commander)

Stuart Roosa – Orbited only (Apollo 14 CMP)

Edgar Mitchell – Walked on Moon (Apollo 14 LMP)

David Scott – Walked on Moon (Apollo 15 Commander)

Alfred Worden – Orbited only (Apollo 15 CMP)

James Irwin – Walked on Moon (Apollo 15 LMP)

Bottom row (left to right):

John Young – Walked on Moon (Apollo 16 Commander)

Thomas Mattingly – Orbited only (Apollo 16 CMP)

Charles Duke – Walked on Moon (Apollo 16 LMP)

Eugene Cernan – Walked on Moon (Apollo 17 Commander — duplicate appearance)

Ronald Evans – Orbited only (Apollo 17 CMP)

Harrison Schmitt – Walked on Moon (Apollo 17 LMP)