Meet NASA's Artemis III crew: The astronauts preparing for the next Moon mission
NASA has announced the four astronauts who will fly on the Artemis III mission in 2027. While the mission won't land on the Moon, it will test key technologies and lunar landers needed for future crewed lunar missions. Meet the astronauts of Artemis III mission.
Published By: Divya | Published: Jun 10, 2026, 01:32 PM (IST)
After the successful mission of Artemis II, NASA is now preparing for the next moon mission Artemis III. The American space agency has finally announced the astronauts who will fly on the Artemis III mission, currently scheduled for 2027. Interestingly, despite the name, Artemis III will not take humans back to the Moon just yet.
Instead, the mission will act as a major test flight before NASA attempts a crewed lunar landing under the Artemis programme. Think of it as a dress rehearsal where astronauts will test how future Moon missions are expected to work.
Meet the Artemis III crew
NASA has selected four astronauts for the mission:
- Randy Bresnik Commander
- Luca Parmitano Pilot
- Andre Douglas Mission Specialist
- Frank Rubio Mission Specialist
NASA astronaut Bob Hines will serve as the backup crew member. What makes this crew announcement notable is Luca Parmitano's selection. He became the first astronaut from the European Space Agency (ESA) to be assigned to an Artemis mission.
Commander Randy Bresnik and pilot Luca Parmitano are both heading to space for the third time. Frank Rubio is already a familiar name in the space community after spending 371 consecutive days aboard the International Space Station - the longest single spaceflight by an American astronaut. For Andre Douglas, though, Artemis III will mark his first trip to space. Before joining NASA, he worked on advanced engineering and autonomous systems projects.
NASA's Artemis III mission: What is it about?
The mission will launch aboard NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. However, unlike the Apollo missions or the future Artemis IV mission, the crew won't be heading to the lunar surface. Instead, the Orion spacecraft will remain in low Earth orbit and carry out a series of docking exercises with lunar landers being developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin.
The idea is fairly straightforward. Before astronauts start landing on the Moon again, NASA wants to make sure the spacecraft, landers, software, communications systems, docking hardware, and even spacesuits work as expected.
At least one astronaut is expected to enter the prototype landers during the mission and test various systems that could later be used during actual Moon landings.
Artemis III was originally expected to put astronauts on the Moon. But delays in the development of lunar landing systems forced NASA to rethink the timeline. Rather than wait for everything to be ready, the agency turned Artemis III into a mission focused on testing and validation.
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