When NASA’s Artemis II mission lifts off Wednesday, it won’t just mark a return to deep space — it will carry a Southern California native on a historic journey around the moon.
Victor Glover, a Pomona-born astronaut and former Ontario High School athlete, is set to become the first Black person to travel to the moon. The mission will not include a landing, but the crew will fly past the moon — the first time humans have done so in more than 50 years.
Glover, 49, is no stranger to making history. In 2020, he became the first Black astronaut to serve on a long-duration expedition aboard the International Space Station.
For some, that milestone came as a shock. Livingston Holder, a former Air Force manned spaceflight engineer and space shuttle payload specialist, said he could hardly believe it when he first learned no Black astronaut had previously spent extended time living aboard the station.
“That cannot be right,” Holder recalled thinking. “How could it take that long?”
While Black astronauts had participated in earlier shuttle missions and contributed to building the station, none had stayed for months as part of a full expedition crew until Glover’s mission.
Even so, Glover has often downplayed the significance of being “the first,” choosing instead to focus on the broader purpose of space exploration — and the people who came before him.
Holder, whose own opportunity to fly was canceled after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, said Glover has always carried himself as a team-oriented astronaut rather than someone seeking individual recognition.
Glover’s path to that moment wasn’t guaranteed. In 2018, astronaut Jeanette Epps had been slated to become the first Black astronaut assigned to a long-term ISS mission, but she was removed from the flight without public explanation.
His time in space also coincided with difficult moments back on Earth. Just months before his ISS mission launched, the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked nationwide protests and conversations about racial injustice — a reality Glover, like many others, had to process while orbiting the planet.
The tension between progress in space and struggles on Earth is not new. The Apollo era itself unfolded during the height of the civil rights movement, when critics questioned whether the nation’s resources were being spent in the right places.
To stay grounded, Glover has spoken about listening to Whitey on the Moon by Gil Scott-Heron during training — a piece that reflects those same questions about inequality and progress.
For Glover, though, the mission is about opportunity — not just for himself, but for others who may follow.
“Every time someone is first, it opens the door for the next person,” Holder said, noting the impact role models can have on future generations.
Glover’s own story begins in Pomona, where he was born in 1976 and raised by parents who encouraged his curiosity. His father worked as a police officer, his mother as a bookkeeper, and both supported his wide-ranging ambitions — from athletics to engineering.
As a teenager at Ontario High School, Glover competed in multiple sports, including wrestling, football and track. Teachers remembered him as bright, focused and independent.
“He was always going to find his own path,” said Gregg Givens, a former teacher and coach at the school.
After earning a degree in engineering, Glover joined the Navy in 1998. Over the next 15 years, he logged more than 3,500 flight hours across dozens of aircraft and flew 24 combat missions, while also earning advanced degrees.
He later trained as a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base, following a path similar to early astronauts like Neil Armstrong.
Glover was selected as part of NASA’s astronaut class in 2013, chosen from more than 6,000 applicants. Since then, he has built a reputation as both a skilled pilot and a dedicated family man — often checking in from space to help his four daughters with homework.
On Artemis II, he will be joined by a diverse crew that includes Christina Koch, who is set to become the first woman to travel to the moon, and Jeremy Hansen, who will be the first non-American to make the journey.
For Holder and others who paved the way, watching Glover’s mission is deeply personal.
Before launch, Holder visited a communications station in Australia that will help relay signals between the spacecraft and Earth. From there, he sent a message to Glover that reflects what the mission represents to many.
“Through you,” he said, “we all go to the moon.”
