NASA announced the crew for its Artemis III mission on June 9, 2026. This mission is part of the Artemis program and aims to return astronauts to the moon later this decade. The crew includes Coast Guard Reserve Cmdr. Andre Douglas; Army Col. Frank Rubio, a Black Hawk helicopter pilot and family medicine physician; and Italian Air Force Col. Luca Parmitano, a space station commander. The mission will be led by Randy Bresnik, a two-time astronaut and former space station commander.
Jeremy Parsons, acting Assistant Deputy Associate Administrator of NASA, stated that Artemis III is designed to take calculated risks to ensure future crew safety during lunar landings. The mission follows the successful Artemis II mission, which carried four astronauts around the moon in April 2026. Artemis III is scheduled for launch in 2027 and will test systems and operations necessary for a lunar landing on Artemis IV in 2028.
The crew will launch aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft using the Space Launch System rocket and will spend over a week in low-Earth orbit. They will conduct rendezvous and docking operations with commercial lunar landers developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin. The mission will validate technologies and procedures required for future lunar surface missions.
The flight will involve docking with commercial landers, in-space testing of docked vehicles, and evaluations of life-support and propulsion systems. NASA plans to finalize additional mission objectives in collaboration with industry partners. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman emphasized the need to standardize approaches and increase the pace of exploration to achieve future lunar landing objectives.
