Victor J. Glover by Elliott Smith

Victor J. Glover by Elliott Smith

NASA astronaut Victor J. Glover is the pilot for the Artemis II mission to the Moon, becoming the first person of color to travel beyond Low Earth Orbit.

As a child in Pomona, California, Victor J. Glover had a passion for speed. He planned to become a stuntperson or a race car driver. But at the age of ten, he was mesmerized by watching a space shuttle launch. In college, Glover began mentoring young people of color in STEM subjects. After finishing his engineering degree, he joined the US Navy, where he learned to fly military planes. Then at the age of thirty-seven, his application to NASA was accepted and he joined an elite group of eight astronauts-in-training. He later took multiple spacewalks at the International Space Station and was chosen for the 2026 Artemis II moon mission.

Explore Victor Glover's journey from adrenaline junkie kid to military pilot to the first Black astronaut to live and work on the International Space Station.