The two astronauts who were set to lead NASA’s Artemis II mission around the Moon are stepping away from the astronaut corps, according to a report from the Associated Press.
Commander Reid Wiseman and pilot Victor Glover — both veteran NASA astronauts — are leaving their roles with the agency’s astronaut office. The move comes as NASA continues preparations for its first crewed lunar mission since the Apollo era.
Artemis II was designed to send four astronauts on a flyby of the Moon, testing the Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule with humans aboard for the first time. Wiseman and Glover were named to the crew in April 2023, alongside mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
Neither NASA nor the astronauts have released full public statements about the departures as of this report. The AP story, citing unnamed sources, suggests the exits are tied to personal and career decisions rather than any technical issue with the mission.
The timing raises questions about crew reassignment. NASA has not yet announced replacements, and it remains unclear whether the Artemis II launch date will shift as a result. The mission is currently targeting no earlier than late 2026, though schedules have slipped multiple times in recent years.
For now, Koch and Hansen remain the public faces of the flight. But with its commander and pilot gone, NASA faces a delicate reshuffling — and a test of how quickly it can adapt a high-profile crewed mission.
The agency has said it will provide more details in the coming weeks. Until then, the space community is left watching how this plays out, and what it signals for the broader Artemis program.