NASA on Tuesday provided new details about the Artemis III mission and announced the four prime crew members along with a backup for the test flight. The official statement highlighted that the mission will undertake a series of challenging tests in Earth orbit in 2027, which are essential for Artemis IV, the first planned crewed mission to the lunar South Pole in 2028.
According to the statement, the crew members include NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik as commander, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano as pilot, NASA astronaut Andre Douglas as mission specialist, and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio as mission specialist. NASA astronaut Bob Hines was named as a backup crew member.
The crew will begin training immediately on Orion spacecraft systems and will also assist in the development and operations of the test versions of Blue Origin and SpaceX landers. During Artemis III, the agency's SLS (Space Launch System) rocket will launch the Orion spacecraft and its crew from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to low Earth orbit. After Orion systems checkouts, the spacecraft will, for the first time, demonstrate rendezvous and docking capabilities with test versions from one or both American commercial human landing systems being developed by Blue Origin and SpaceX.
The mission includes a dramatic multi-launch campaign of the world's most powerful rockets, testing integrated hardware between Orion and the landers, including system interfaces, software, propulsion, and communications. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman stated, "Today we take another bold step in humanity's return to the Moon, building on the extraordinary foundation laid by the Artemis II astronauts. Their achievements reignited global excitement for exploration, and now they pass the torch to the Artemis III team, Randy, Luca, Frank, and Andre." He added, "The Artemis III astronauts, alongside ESA and our international partners, and the tens of thousands of the best and brightest across the agency and industry, are ushering in a new Golden Age of exploration, carrying forward the hopes and dreams of the next generation just as the Apollo astronauts did for so many of us."
This is the first time an ESA astronaut has been assigned an Artemis mission. The Artemis III mission builds on the successful Artemis II flight completed in April and will help the agency prepare to send the first astronauts, Americans, to Mars. The mission involves launching the world's most powerful rockets in short order. Blue Origin's lander pathfinder, which can stay in orbit for multiple weeks, will launch first and await the crew. NASA will send the astronauts aboard Orion by SLS to orbit Earth before rendezvousing in space with the company's lander test article and spending about two days docked together for tests and technology demonstrations, including entering the lander.
After completing docked operations with Blue Origin, Orion will detach and await Starship. SpaceX's Starship pathfinder will launch and meet up with Orion to spend about a day connected for checkouts and testing. After that, Orion and its crew will undock and return home, splashing safely down in the Pacific Ocean, where a team from the U.S. Navy and NASA will recover the astronauts. In total, the crew is expected to remain in space for about two weeks, with the exact mission length to be determined in real time based on launch, rendezvous, and docked operations.
