Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman and pilot Victor Glover have become NASA's first astronauts to join its emeritus program rather than retire outright. The move comes five months after their lunar mission splashed down. The emeritus status allows them to continue supporting work at Johnson Space Center in Houston while pursuing external opportunities. "I have asked NASA … to not use the term 'retire' as much, but technically emeritus is a retirement program," Glover told collect SPACE.com.

Glover has accepted a full-time administrative leadership position at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo, while committing to NASA as a volunteer advisor sharing Orion spacecraft expertise. "You can be paid or you can be a gratis service, which is compensation waived, and that's what I'm doing," Glover said. Wiseman also plans to use his emeritus status to mentor colleagues ahead of the Artemis III mission, targeted for no earlier than mid-2027. Historically, astronauts who left for private industry or other careers retired from NASA.

Notable exceptions include Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter, who took leave for the Navy's SEALAB II project, and Edward Gibson, who briefly returned to the astronaut office after resigning.