NASA on Tuesday unveiled the four astronauts selected for the Artemis III mission, a major step toward returning humans to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years.
The crew includes NASA astronauts Andre Douglas, Frank Rubio and Randy Bresnik, alongside European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano.
Randy Bresnik, 58, is a veteran NASA astronaut and retired U.S. Marine Corps officer who has flown on both the Space Shuttle and Russia’s Soyuz, while serving as assistant-to-the-chief astronaut in NASA’s astronaut office.
Frank Rubio, 50, is a NASA astronaut, U.S. Army aviator, physician and flight surgeon who holds the U.S. record for the longest single spaceflight after spending more than 370 days aboard the ISS due to a Soyuz issue.
Andre Douglas, 40, is a NASA astronaut and former U.S. Coast Guard officer who joined the agency in 2021, previously served as backup for Artemis II, and has extensive engineering and research experience including work at Johns Hopkins APL.
Luca Parmitano, 49, is an ESA astronaut, Italian Air Force officer and former ISS commander who has flown multiple space missions, completed six spacewalks, and has extensive test pilot experience.
The mission is scheduled to launch no earlier than late 2027.
Unlike earlier plans for Artemis III to attempt a moon landing, NASA redesigned the mission to focus on testing technologies and maneuvers needed for future lunar missions.
The crew will fly aboard the Orion spacecraft into low-Earth orbit, where they are expected to rendezvous and dock with lunar landers being developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin.
NASA chief Jared Isaacman said Orion “will rendezvous and dock with the Blue Origin lander, and then again with the SpaceX lander.”
The mission is intended to “reduce risk” ahead of an actual lunar touchdown, which NASA hopes could happen as soon as 2028.
NASA officials said Orion would first dock with Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander for about two days, allowing astronauts to inspect systems and test equipment linked to future moonwalk missions.
The spacecraft would later dock with SpaceX’s Starship for roughly a day, though astronauts are not expected to enter the vehicle because its crew cabin is still under development.
Isaacman also revealed NASA plans to conduct a major wet dress rehearsal test of its Space Launch System rocket before the end of the year.
The announcement drew attention because the Artemis III team is made up entirely of men, a rarity in recent NASA missions.
Addressing the issue during an interview with CNN, Bresnik said the absence of women was “not intentional,” adding that NASA selected astronauts with the required skills and availability for the mission.
“We’ll certainly have female military test pilots — or just other female astronauts, that’ll be picking up on the follow-on Artemis missions, and we’re here to carry the fire so that we can hand off the torch to them,” Bresnik said.
NASA administrator Isaacman defended the revised mission strategy, saying a direct jump from Artemis II to a moon landing would have been too risky.
“We didn’t go right to Apollo 11,” Isaacman said earlier this year. “We had a whole Mercury Program, Gemini — lots of Apollo missions before we ultimately landed.”
The mission is expected to conclude with a splashdown landing in the Pacific Ocean.
