On Tuesday, NASA revealed the four astronauts who will make up the crew of its next Artemis III assignment— the agency’s next crucial step toward returning humans to the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years.
The four astronauts who will participate in the mission, currently planned for 2027, are NASA astronauts Andre Douglas, Frank Rubio and Randy Bresnik and European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano.
Douglas is a spaceflight rookie who will serve as a mission specialist alongside Rubio, who holds the record for the longest American spaceflight. Parmitano will be Artemis IIIand Bresnik will be the mission commander. Should one of the four withdraw from the mission, there is a backup crew member: NASA astronaut Bob Hines.
On supporting science journalism
If you enjoy this article, please consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribe. By purchasing a subscription, you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
According to the official NASA calendar, Artemis III could launch as early as the second half of 2027, but many experts expect this timeline to be delayed. Originally intended as the first American crewed Moon landing since 1972 Apollo 17NASA revamped the scope of the mission earlier this year to make it a test flight in low Earth orbit. There, the four astronauts will seek to meet NASA’s Orion crew capsule with two separate Human Landing System (HLS) vehicles. In future Artemis missions, such HLS spacecraft will transport crews from lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon and back.
“Artemis III is an incredibly exciting, complex and highly coordinated multi-launch campaign. This is going to happen in a short period of time with three of the most powerful rockets in the world,” said Jeremy Parsons, acting deputy assistant administrator for NASA’s Moon to Mars program office.
The mission will begin with the launch of Blue Origin Lander Test Vehiclewhich Parsons says can “loiter” in space for up to 90 days. The crew will launch inside the Orion capsule via the space agency’s Space Launch System rocket. Next, they will orbit in a circular path around Earth before attempting to meet the Orion capsule with the Blue Origin lander. The two spacecraft will spend about two days together, allowing technology demonstrations and testing, including inside the Blue Origin spacecraft, Parsons said.
After that, the Orion capsule will detach from the Blue Origin spacecraft and perform a similar encounter and demonstration with a version of SpaceX’s V3 spacecraft.
“This gives our teams key information about the systems that the lunar lander crew will depend on in an environment close to home, compared to more than four days around the Moon,” Parsons said. “This mission is deliberately designed to take calculated risks, so that future crews will be safer and ultimately successful when we put boots on the lunar surface.”
During their mission, the crew will spend about two weeks inside their Orion capsule, about four days longer than their predecessors in April. Artemis II mission, a nearly 10-day journey during which four other astronauts looped around the far side of the Moon.
Artemis IIIThe agency’s goals also include a spacewalk and other tests of the agency’s capabilities. latest spacesuitsdesigned and manufactured by aerospace company Axiom Space and fashion company Prada. The basic plan is similar in sequence and scope to Apollo 9, a 1969 mission that was a key precursor to Apollo 11the very first human landing on the Moon, later that year and which itself was preceded by the Moon’s orbit in 1968. Apollo 8.
For now, NASA’s human return to the Moon is planned for the end of 2028 via the Artemis IV assignment. At Tuesday’s event, NASA chief Jared Isaacman said: Artemis III will be essential to find the rhythm necessary to make Artemis IV and future feasible lunar missions.
THE Artemis III The crew “carries and advances the hopes and dreams of the next generation, just as the Apollo astronauts did for many of us,” Isaacman said. “When Eugène Cernan left the lunar surface Apollo 17he said: “We are leaving as we came, and God willing, we will return with peace and hope for all humanity.” Now, it took a little longer than he imagined, but we come back, and we do it with the experience of Apollo, the lessons of Artemis IIthe crew now Artemis IIIand the promise of what lies ahead, and our collective effort to build humanity’s first outpost on another world.
SpaceX and Blue Origin compete to supply HLS; SpaceX’s lander is a variant of its massive Starship rocket, which has yet to fully reach Earth’s orbit despite a dozen test flights. Blue Origin’s contribution to the HLS is its under-development Blue Moon lander, which would take off on the company’s massive New Glenn rocket. The latter plan, however, suffered a major setback after a New Glenn exploded during testing at the company’s launch pad on May 28, destroying part of Blue Origin’s critical infrastructure. David Limp, CEO of the company swore that New Glenn will take flight again before the end of this year – a sentiment echoed Tuesday by John Couluris, Blue Origin’s senior vice president of lunar permanence.
Even if both companies manage to meet these ambitious deadlines on time Artemis IIIother obstacles remain. To get crews to and from the lunar surface, Starship and Blue Moon would need in-space refueling — a barely tested maneuver that carries significant risks and the possibility of additional delays. At the same event, Jessica Jensen, SpaceX’s senior vice president of customer operations and integration, said the company would attempt a fuel transfer to space later this year. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is targeting late 2026 for the next Starship launch.
Artemis III will not test refueling even under ideal circumstances, suggesting that this capability will require further uncrewed test flights of both HLS systems before either can be used for a crewed lunar return.
“Let me assure you that NASA is playing an active role with all of its partners, contractors and suppliers to help resolve the issues that arise today and ensure that the right results are achieved,” Parsons said.
Jensen said SpaceX plans to use a Starship V3 with a docking module borrowed from its Crew Dragon capsule, which SpaceX uses to transport NASA astronauts to the International Space Station, to Artemis III. The company is also building a Starship HLS cabin at Starbase to further test its systems on Earth before a moon landing.
Isaacman said the agency would release a new update on its lunar base plans in the coming weeks.
