NASA Names Artemis III Crew to Return Astronauts to the Moon's Surface

NASA on Monday named the four astronauts who will fly Artemis III, the mission intended to return humans to the surface of the Moon for the first time since 1972. The agency announced that NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik will command the flight, with European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano serving as pilot and NASA's Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas as mission specialists. Astronaut Bob Hines was named as a backup.

The crew brings a deep well of experience to one of the most complex missions NASA has ever attempted. Bresnik, a U.S. Marine Corps officer, has flown to space twice and logged 149 days off the planet. Parmitano, an Italian flying for ESA, has also been to space twice, including a harrowing 2013 spacewalk that was cut short when water leaked into his helmet and nearly drowned him. Rubio holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by an American — 371 days — after his planned stay aboard the International Space Station was extended when the spacecraft meant to bring him home was damaged. For Douglas, Artemis III will be his first trip to space.

The mission is targeted to launch as soon as late 2027 and is expected to last roughly two weeks. During the flight, the crew will demonstrate rendezvous and docking with test versions of the commercial human landing systems being developed by Blue Origin and SpaceX, a critical step toward putting boots on the lunar surface. NASA has described Artemis III as a "complex" undertaking that will test technologies essential to a sustained presence on and around the Moon.

The announcement drew some criticism because the prime crew is all male, a point noted by several outlets covering the rollout. NASA has previously pledged that the Artemis program would land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon, and the agency's framing of the broader campaign has emphasized diversity even as the specific Artemis III assignments did not reflect it.

Artemis III is the centerpiece of NASA's long-term plan to establish a foothold at the lunar south pole, a region thought to hold water ice that could one day support deep-space exploration. The crew assignment marks a concrete milestone in a program that has weathered repeated delays and ballooning costs, and it gives the public, for the first time, faces to attach to America's next attempt to walk on the Moon.