NASA assigns crew for Artemis III, sets aggressive timeline for flying it

The US space agency unveiled the crew for its Artemis III mission on Tuesday during an enthusiastic event at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

For this spaceflight into low-Earth orbit, which will see the Orion spacecraft rendezvous and dock with lunar lander prototypes, NASA chose an experienced, all-male crew with military backgrounds. They were revealed inside a darkened Teague Auditorium where hundreds of friends, family members, and NASA employees cheered enthusiastically.

The four crew members are:

• NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, commander
• ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano, pilot
• NASA astronaut Andre Douglas, mission specialist
• NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, mission specialist

The Artemis III test flight will serve as a bridge between the recent Artemis II lunar flyby mission, which was successfully completed in April, and a planned lunar landing with the Artemis IV mission.

“We are the unifying link between Artemis II and Artemis IV,” Bresnik said Tuesday.

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