Eighteen astronauts - nine men and nine women - have been selected to begin training for upcoming Artemis missions to the moon, NASA announced Wednesday.

NASA is in the final stages of testing the first Space Launch System moon rocket in Mississippi before the booster is shipped to Florida for launch late next year on an unpiloted maiden flight.

A second piloted flight with four astronauts aboard is planned in the 2023 timeframe to put the Orion capsule through its paces before a landing attempt on the Artemis 3 mission.

NASA has been working toward a schedule imposed by the Trump administration calling for astronauts to return to the moon by the end of 2024 using the SLS, an Orion capsule and a commercially developed lunar lander that has not yet been built.

“We are in the midst of negotiating to get that lander funded,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, updating the Space Council on Artemis program progress. “This has to be generational in nature, which means strong bipartisan support is necessary.

It’s not yet known what sort of funding the Biden administration might approve or whether a near-term moon mission will be politically viable given the economic impact of the coronavirus, possible stimulus spending and other pressing issues.

The 18 astronauts named Wednesday are among the most diverse groups NASA has ever put together: nine men, including four with space flight experience, and nine women, including five space veterans. Nine of the 18 have not yet flown in space.

Two astronauts on the list — Kate Rubins and Victor Glover — are currently aboard the International Space Station and another, rookie Nicole Mann, is assigned to an upcoming flight to the station aboard Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner capsule.

Also on the list: Christina Koch and Jessica Meir, who carried out the first all-female spacewalks in 2019 and 2020, and Anne McClain, another spacewalk veteran.

The Artemis astronauts are:

Joe Acaba, 53 (3 previous flights; 3 spacewalks)
Kayla Barron, 33 (rookie)
Raja Chari, 43 (rookie)
Matthew Dominick, 39 (rookie)
Victor Glover, 44 (1 flight)
Woody Hoburg, 35 (rookie)
Jonny Kim, 36 (rookie)
Christina Koch, 41 (1 flight; 6 spacewalks)
Kjell Lindgren, 47 (1 flight; 2 spacewalks)
Nicole Mann, 43 (rookie)
Anne McClain, 41 (1 flight; 2 spacewalks)
Jessica Meir, 43 (1 flight; 3 spacewalks)
Jasmin Moghbeli, 37 (rookie)
Kate Rubins, 42 (2 flights (2 spacewalks)
Frank Rubio, 43 (rookie)
Scott Tingle, 55 (1 flight; 1 spacewalk)
Jessica Watkins, 32 (rookie)
Stephanie Wilson, 54 (3 flights)

Nicole Mann is one quarter Estonian. Her grandfather Helmuth Aunapu emigrated as a young man in the 1920s and finally moved to USA. He joined the Army and took part in World War II as a military engineer, earning the rank of lieutenant colonel. The war claimed the house of Helmuth’s relatives in Estonia. The family escaped to Sweden before Helmuth’s mother and sister also moved to the States. His brother joined the Red Army to save his family from Siberia.

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