NASA has officially named the four astronauts who will fly the Artemis III mission, targeting launch in mid- to late 2027. The crew was revealed on Tuesday at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, less than two months following the completion of the historic Artemis II manned mission to orbit the moon.Â
Leading the international crew is Commander Randy Bresnik, with ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano acting as the pilot and two veteran and one rookie mission specialists, Andre Douglas and Frank Rubio, of NASA.
What will the Artemis III mission aim for?
In contrast with the previous mission, Artemis III would not travel past low Earth orbit. Its main focus will be docking the Orion capsule with two different lunar landers Blue Moon by Blue Origin and Starship by SpaceX as practice for a future mission to the Moon.
The astronauts would enter the capsule using the hatch to Blue Moon and stay there for two days while evaluating its life support capabilities. They will then undock and undertake a separate one-day rendezvous with the Starship vehicle. Starship will fly in the Artemis III configuration without a crew capsule, only with docking equipment.
Next-generation spacesuits manufactured by Houston’s Axiom Space will be tested for conducting lunar surface EVAs. Whether there will be a complete spacewalk during the mission remains to be seen.
Both the contractors of the landing systems have experienced some challenges. In May 2026, the New Glenn rocket from Blue Origin exploded during testing at the launch pad. Another challenge that SpaceX’s Starship has brought is delaying the goal by NASA by shifting it to mid-to-late 2027.
According to NASA representatives, all is well on the development of SLS. In April, the main stage propellant tank arrived at Kennedy Space Center, and the segments for the solid rocket boosters started to stack.
