HOUSTON – The astronauts who will launch into space aboard the Artemis III mission next year were just announced by NASA.
The four astronauts were revealed during an event at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Tuesday, roughly a year before the mission is set to launch.
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NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced the crew alongside other NASA dignitaries, including representatives from the European Space Agency.
This is the crew of Artemis III:
- Randolph “Randy” Bresnik - Commander
- Luca Parmitano - Pilot
- Francisco “Frank” Rubio - Mission Specialist
- Andre Douglas - Mission Specialist
- Robert “Bob” Hines - Back-up crew member
Meet the crew of Artemis III
Commander Randolph “Randy” Bresnik is a veteran NASA astronaut and retired U.S. Marine colonel.
Bresnik is making his third trip to space after missions aboard the space shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station.
Since 2018, he has helped oversee development and testing of systems for NASA’s Artemis program and has logged more than 7,000 flight hours in 95 aircraft types.
Pilot Luca Parmitano, an astronaut with the European Space Agency, is a two-time spaceflier and the first European assigned to an Artemis mission.
A colonel in the Italian Air Force, he became the first Italian and only the third European to command the International Space Station during Expedition 61.
Mission Specialist Francisco “Frank” Rubio is a NASA astronaut, physician and U.S. Army officer making his second spaceflight.
He previously set the record for the longest single-duration mission by an American astronaut, spending 371 consecutive days aboard the International Space Station from 2022 to 2023.
Mission Specialist Andre Douglas is making his first trip to space after being selected as a NASA astronaut in 2021.
A former U.S. Coast Guard officer and systems engineer, he previously served as a backup and closeout crew member for the Artemis II mission and has worked on advanced autonomous vehicles and space exploration systems.
Backup Crew Member Bob Hines is a NASA astronaut and U.S. Air Force colonel who previously served as pilot of NASA’s Crew-4 mission to the International Space Station.
He will train alongside the prime Artemis III crew and could be called upon if a primary crew member becomes unavailable.
What is Artemis III?
Artemis III is scheduled to launch in mid-2027 aboard NASA’s Space Launch System rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The mission will carry astronauts inside the Orion spacecraft and focus on testing rendezvous and docking operations with commercial spacecraft developed by SpaceX, Blue Origin or both companies.
NASA says the mission is designed to demonstrate capabilities needed to safely transport astronauts between Orion and future lunar landing vehicles.
The test flight will take place in low Earth orbit rather than traveling to the Moon.
How Artemis III fits into NASA’s Moon program
The Artemis program is NASA’s long-term effort to establish a sustained human presence on and around the Moon while developing technologies needed for future missions to Mars.
NASA completed Artemis I in November 2022, sending an uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the Moon and back to Earth.
NASA also completed the Artemis II crewed test flight in April 2026, a mission the agency says helped pave the way for future Artemis missions.
Earlier this year, NASA announced changes to the Artemis program that added the Artemis III demonstration mission and increased the planned cadence of future flights.
According to NASA’s current plan, Artemis IV is expected to carry astronauts to the lunar surface in 2028, followed by Artemis V later that year as NASA begins building infrastructure for a long-term lunar presence.
Houston’s role in the mission
Tuesday’s announcement took place at Johnson Space Center, the longtime hub of America’s human spaceflight program.
The Houston facility is home to NASA’s astronaut corps and serves as the center for human spaceflight operations and mission control activities.
Johnson Space Center has been home to space flight and NASA’s Mission Control Center since the 1960s.