NASA names 4 astronauts on the 'highly complex' Artemis III lunar training mission

NASA named the international crew of four that will fly on its next Artemis mission as early as next year. It's a key test flight ahead of a human landing mission to the lunar surface that the agency calls "one of the most highly complex missions NASA has undertaken."

The Artemis III mission, while vital to future moon missions, will remain closer to home in low-Earth orbit. There, it will demonstrate the Orion spacecraft's rendezvous and docking capabilities with two commercially designed and built lunar landers.

NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik will command the mission. A member of the U.S. Marine Corps, Bresnik has flown to space twice and logged 149 days off the planet. European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano, from Italy, will serve as the mission's pilot. Parmitano has also been to space twice, including one dangerous spacewalk that was cut short when he nearly drowned as his helmet filled up with water.

NASA's Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas will serve as mission specialists. Rubio served in the U.S. Army and is a board-certified family physician and flight surgeon. He has flown to space once, to the International Space Station on a Russian Soyuz capsule. After engineers discovered the spacecraft was damaged, Rubio's stay was extended while awaiting a new ride, and he set the record for longest spaceflight by an American at 371 days.

This will be the first spaceflight for Douglas. The Coast Guard reserve officer was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2021. He is a systems engineer with a doctorate from George Washington University. Douglas served as backup crew to Artemis II.

"This mission is going to be fantastic," he said at the crew's announcement Tuesday from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. "What an excellent crew. Got Artemis! Go NASA!"

Critical flight test

Artemis III is a crucial mission as NASA tests key pieces of hardware that will return humans to the lunar surface as early as 2028 — and for the first time since 1972.

To accomplish that, the agency is relying on lunar landing vehicles that are designed and developed by private companies SpaceX and Blue Origin.

Artemis III will test the ability of the Orion crew capsule to rendezvous and dock with those landers not near the moon, but instead in low-Earth orbit.

"This gives our teams key information on systems the lunar lander crew will depend on in an environment close to home versus four plus days away around the moon," said NASA's Jeremy Parsons.

The mission begins with the uncrewed launch of Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander, which can stay in orbit for 90 days. That gives NASA time to launch the crew in the Orion space capsule atop NASA's SLS rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

After launching, the crew will pilot the Orion spacecraft to catch up with the lander and dock to it. There it will remain for about two days, and the crew will open the hatch and test key elements of the lander — like its life support and control systems — before undocking.

SpaceX will then launch its Starship into low-Earth orbit. Orion and the Artemis III crew will dock with that lander, spending about a day attached to that spacecraft.

Then, Orion and its crew will come home, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off California.

The path ahead

NASA administrator Jared Isaacman wants to launch this mission by the end of next year. But an accident last month at Blue Origin's launch facility at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida brings some uncertainty to that timeline.

During a routine, prelaunch test, Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket exploded at its launch site, causing significant damage to the facility. Blue Origin's lunar lander for the Artemis III mission is scheduled to launch on New Glenn.

"While we recognize there are questions about how Blue Origin's recent anomaly impacts our plans, setbacks are a learning opportunity," said Blue Origin's John Couluris. "We are confident that New Glenn will be ready for Artemis III."

SpaceX is also working to develop its lander, completing a 12th test flight of the Starship system. The company has yet to launch Starship into orbit.

As the two companies prepare their landers for the Artemis III test, the crew is working with the Artemis II astronauts to prepare. "The most important Artemis mission will always be the next Artemis mission," Bresnik said.

At the crew announcement, the Artemis II astronauts handed over a baton — one that was carried during their mission around the moon and back — as a symbol of that step-by-step development that will help NASA achieve its ambitious goal of returning humans to the moon.

"We've been carrying these batons around for way too long," said Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman. "So with that, the Artemis II crew hands you the baton. You got the controls."