Artemis II crew with Upstate NY ties invited to White House by President Biden.

Gregory Reid Wiseman, a graduate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, will serve as the commander for the Artemis II mission, the first crewed moon mission in five decades, set to launch in November 2024. The mission will serve as a "flight test" to "prove" the life-support systems needed for humans to live and work in deep space. The crew will orbit the moon before making a splash landing in the Pacific Ocean, potentially traveling further into space than any human has in history. Wiseman was first chosen to be an astronaut in 2009 and has completed one prior spaceflight.