Three Americans and an Italian walk into an Orion spacecraft...
Following the historic success of the Artemis II Moon mission earlier this year, NASA today announced the four astronauts who will crew its forthcoming Artemis III mission. The crew consists of four men, three of whom — Andre Douglas, Frank Rubio and Randy Bresnik — are NASA astronauts. The forth and final member of Artemis III is Italian Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency, who will serve as the flight's pilot.
"This mission is designed to take calculated risks to make future missions safer," said Jeremy Parsons, NASA acting assistant deputy administrator, and in a way, the crew of Artemis III reflects that, with the agency filling its roster with spaceflight veterans. In Randy Bresnik, the flight's commander, NASA has selected one of its old guard. Bresnik joined NASA in 2004 and is the only member of the crew to have flown on the Space Shuttle before it was retired in 2011. Rubio, meanwhile, holds the record for the longest stay in space for a NASA astronaut after he spent 371 days on The International Space Station following a coolant leak on his ride home, a Russian Soyuz capsule. As for Douglas, he was one the backups NASA had ready for Artemis II, and Parmitano has a total of 367 days in space.
NASA has set an aggressive timeline for the mission, which will see it attempt to test commercial landers from both SpaceX and Blue Origin. The agency's administrator, Jared Isaacman, said NASA's aim is to start wet dressing — a critical fueling test all rockets must complete before flying — Artemis III as soon as later this year. Stacking of the super heavy-lift rocket is scheduled to begin this summer. What's more, Isaacman said Blue Origin will take part in the mission, a surprising announcement given the fiery end to the company's most recent New Glenn rocket trial. The "hotfire test" badly damaged the only launchpad Blue Origin has for flying New Glenn. John Couluris, the company's senior vice president of lunar permanence, said Blue Origin's prototype Moon lander would be ready to fly in time for Artemis III in 2027, adding the company had "redoubled" its efforts to repair its facilities.
NASA did not hold a Q&A after the event to answer questions from journalists about its proposed timeline. The optimism Isaacman and other members of NASA's leadership tried to project during the event contrasts with the brutal workforce cuts the agency had to endure during the first year of President Trump's second term. In all, NASA lost more around 4,000 employees in 2025, and Trump tried to cut NASA's budget to levels not seen since before the Space Race. While Congress ultimately rejected the president's 2026 funding proposal, Trump is trying to cut $5.6 billion from the agency's 2027 operating budget, a point advocacy groups were quick to highlight following the announcement.
"These four brave individuals represent the next step in advancing humanity into deep space. Artemis stands as a testament to the achievements possible when America works closely with its allies in pursuit of a great challenge," Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at The Planetary Society, a nonprofit founded by Carl Sagan that advocates for the exploration and study of space, told Engadget. "Yet the agency faces some of its largest budget cuts in history, which undermine the very alliances, partnerships, and science needed to ensure our long-term success at the Moon. We hope that this moment reminds our political leadership that space exploration and inspiration doesn't just happen, it takes dedicated individuals like the Artemis III crew and thousands of engineers, scientists, and technicians around the country and the world to make it all work."
