The American space agency NASA has named the four astronauts who will go to the Moon, after about 50 years.

Christina Koch will become the first female astronaut ever assigned to a lunar mission, while Victor Glover will be the first black astronaut.

They will be joined by Reid Wiseman and Jeremy Hansen in order to fly together in a capsule around the Moon late next year or early 2025.

The astronauts will not land on the Moon, but their mission will pave the way for the next team to attempt to go to the Moon.

The three American citizens and one Canadian were introduced to the public at a ceremony in Houston, Texas, and from now on they begin intensive training.

By choosing a woman and a person of color, Nasa is making good on its promise to bring greater diversity to its space exploration efforts. All previous manned missions to the Moon were by white men.

“The Artemis-2 crew represents thousands of people who work tirelessly to get us to the stars. This is their crew, this is our crew, this is humanity’s crew,” Nasa Administrator Bill Nelson said.

“Nasa astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Hammock Koch, and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen each have their own story, but together they represent our belief: Together, we are embarking on a new era of exploration for a new generation of astronauts and dreamers – the Generation of Artemis” he pointed out.

The quartet essentially retraces the 1968 mission carried out by Apollo 8, which was the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon.