Cal Poly alum to pilot first lunar mission in more than 50 years

March 30, 2026

Victor Glover

By JOSH FRIEDMAN

Cal Poly alum Victor Glover is set to pilot the first crewed mission around the moon since 1972, with the launch of Artemis II slated for Wednesday.

Artemis is a lunar exploration program led by NASA intended to reestablish a human presence on the moon. The program’s first mission, Artemis I, launched in 2022 and consisted of a test run of NASA’s Orion spacecraft flying by the moon. 

Artemis II will be the first crewed mission of the program. Glover will be joined on the mission by fellow NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman and Christina Koch, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

The mission will consist of an approximately 10-day flight test to validate Orion’s life-support systems and demonstrate the capabilities humans will need to live and work deep in space. The crew will fly by the moon but will not land on it.

At the end of the mission, the Orion spacecraft is expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean, possibly off the coast of San Diego.

Glover, now the pilot of Artemis II, graduated from Cal Poly in 1999. He also graduated from the Air Force Test Pilot School and the Naval Postgraduate School.

While in the military, Glover flew 24 missions in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and earned several Navy medals, including the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

In 2013, NASA selected Glover as an astronaut while he was serving as a legislative fellow in the U.S. Senate. As an astronaut, Glover piloted NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission to the International Space Station as part of Expedition 64.