Reid Wiseman

Gregory Reid Wiseman (born November 11, 1975) is a United States Navy captain, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. He was the commander of the 2026 Artemis II lunar flyby mission, the first crewed flight around the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. He served as the 17th chief of the Astronaut Office from 2020 to 2022.

Selected as a NASA astronaut in 2009, he flew to the International Space Station in 2014 as part of Expedition 40/41 and earlier served as a U.S. Navy fighter pilot and test pilot.

On April 1, 2026, he launched on Artemis II, becoming the first commander of a lunar mission since Gene Cernan on Apollo 17 and the oldest person to travel beyond low Earth orbit at age 50. He and his crew also became the humans that have traveled the farthest from Earth.

Early life and education Gregory Reid Wiseman was born on November 11, 1975, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Judith Eileen (née Sweitzer) and William Joseph Wiseman III. His father was a Baltimore County government employee, first as an attorney and later as a zoning commissioner, and his mother was an administrative assistant for an insurance company.

Wiseman grew up in the Springdale neighborhood of Cockeysville. He attended Dulaney High School where he played golf, was part of the drumline, and a member of the Russian club. He graduated from Dulaney in 1993, and earned a BS degree in computer and systems engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York in 1997. He later received an MS degree in systems engineering from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore in 2006.

During his second deployment in 2003, Wiseman was selected to attend the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School (USNTPS) at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, as part of USNTPS Class 125. Following his graduation in June 2004, he was assigned as a Test Pilot and project officer at Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Two Three (VX-23) at NAS Patuxent River. At VX-23, he earned his master's degree and worked on a range of flight-test programs involving the F-35C Lightning II, F/A-18 Hornet weapons separation, ship suitability, and the T-45 Goshawk. At the time, he was serving as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy, flying with Strike Fighter Squadron 103 aboard the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) and based at NAS Oceana, Virginia. and returned to Earth at 03:58 UTC on November 10, 2014.

Aquanaut In 2016, Wiseman participated in NASA's Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) program as an aquanaut.

Chief of the Astronaut Office Wiseman was appointed chief of the Astronaut Office on December 18, 2020, succeeding Patrick Forrester. He had previously served as Forrester's deputy chief. He stepped down from the position on November 14, 2022, to return to the active flight rotation.

Artemis II

Only one chance in this lifetime, video by Wiseman showing Earthset from the crew's perspective. On April 3, 2023, Wiseman was selected as the commander for the Artemis II lunar flyby mission, which flew in early April 2026. He was joined by NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Victor Glover, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. They launched on April 1, 2026. As mission commander, Wiseman was responsible for crew safety, mission execution, and resolving in‑flight issues. The crew of Artemis II reached the farthest distance from Earth that humans have traveled, surpassing the previous record set by Apollo 13. During the mission, Wiseman took the image Hello, World and captured a video of Earth setting behind the Moon.

Personal life Wiseman was married to Carroll Taylor-Wiseman, a nurse, until her death from cancer in 2020. They have two daughters, Ellie and Katey. On April 6, 2026, while on the Artemis II mission, Wiseman's fellow astronaut Jeremy Hansen formally requested that a newly discovered crater on the Moon be named Carroll, after Wiseman's late wife.

Honors In June 2026, the Baltimore County Council honored Wiseman with a resolution honoring him and his contributions to the Artemis II mission. Baltimore County Executive Kathy Klausmeier also gifted his father a special citation, as well as hats, pins, and a Baltimore County flag.