NASA Artemis III crew: Meet the astronauts, mission timeline updates

Meet the Artemis III crew

NASA on Tuesday revealed the four astronauts who will be part of the Artemis III crew and mission – the next step in NASA’s goal of landing humans and to build a moon base on the lunar surface. NASA made the announcement at Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, Commander
ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano, Pilot
NASA astronaut Andre Douglas, Mission specialist
NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, Mission specialist Artemis III’s mission is expected to happen in 2027.

NASA on Tuesday revealed the four astronauts who will be part of the Artemis III crew and mission – the next step in NASA’s goal of landing humans and building a base on the lunar surface. NASA made the announcement at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Meet Artemis III crew

• NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, Commander
• ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano, Pilot
• NASA astronaut Andre Douglas, Mission specialist
• NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, Mission specialist

Meet the Artemis III crew

NASA on Tuesday revealed the four astronauts who will be part of the Artemis III crew and mission – the next step in NASA’s goal of landing humans and to build a moon base on the lunar surface. NASA made the announcement at Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, Commander
ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano, Pilot
NASA astronaut Andre Douglas, Mission specialist
NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, Mission specialist Artemis III’s mission is expected to happen in 2027.

Commander Randy Bresnik

NASA astronaut Randy “Komrade” Bresnik became an astronaut in 2004. He served as commander of the International Space Station for Expeditions 53 and a flight engineer for Expedition 52.  He has more than 32 hours of spacewalk experience, according to his NASA bio. Most recently, he served as the Assistant-to-the-Chief of the Astronaut Office for Exploration.

He served as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps, attended the Marine Corps Weapons and Tactics Instructors Course (WTI) and Naval Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN), and became an F/A-18 Test Pilot and served during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

He was born in Fort Knox, Kentucky, though he considers Santa Monica, California, his hometown. He’s married and has three kids, a son and two daughters. Click here to read more.

Pilot Luca Parmitano

European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano was selected as an astronaut in 2009. He served as a flight engineer on Italian space agency ASI’s mission to the ISS, where he spent 166 days in space, conducted over 20 experiments, and took part in two spacewalks. In July 2019, he went on a second space mission, where he served as commander of Expedition 61.

In total, he’s conducted six spacewalks, totaling 33 hours and 9 minutes, according to his online bio.

He was born in Paterno, though he considered Catania to be his hometown. He is married and has two daughters. Click here to read more.

Mission Specialist Andre Douglas

Astronaut Andre Douglas was the backup astronaut for the Artemis II mission and trained alongside that mission’s crew, including astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA’s Jeremy Hansen. For Artemis III, he’s been selected as a Mission Specialist.

He was part of NASA’s 2021 Astronaut Candidate Class. Since then, he’s served as an engineer at APL, supporting the fault management team during the development of the DART planetary defense mission. He’s supported several other missions, including the MEGANE, a gamm-ray and neutron spectrometer instrument, which was built to support the Mars Moons eXploration spacecraft. Prior to being selected as a candidate, he was part of the Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium at APL. 

Douglas was born in Miami, Florida. He is married and has two sons. His mom lives in Pittsburgh, while his dad lives in Tampa. Click here to read more.

Mission Specialist Frank Rubio

Dr. Frank Rubio broke the record for the longest single-duration spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut in September 2023, spending 371 days in space, according to his online bio. He traveled 157,412 statute miles, saw the arrival of 15 space vehicles, and worked with 28 different astronauts during his time aboard the ISS. He has completed three spacewalks, totaling 21 hours and 24 minutes. He helped install two new IROSA Solar Arrays for the ISS.

He was part of the 2017 Astronaut Candidate Class. Most recently, he served as Class Advisor for the 2025 Astronaut Candidate Class.

He was born in Los Angeles, but considers Miami, Florida, to be his hometown. He is married and has four children. Click here to read more.

What is the Artemis III mission?

Artemis III is the third mission in NASA’s Artemis program to return humans to the surface of the moon.

For this mission, the crew won’t go to the moon. Instead, they will be sent to low-Earth orbit to test the Orion’s spacecraft’s ability to rendezvous and dock with one or two lunar landers.

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When is the Artemis III launch?

The Artemis III mission is expected to launch sometime in 2027, although no exact date has been announced.

Will the New Glenn explosion impact Artemis III?

Blue Origin is one of the companies developing a lunar lander for the Artemis program. The other is SpaceX.

The company’s New Glenn rocket was supposed to carry the lander to space. However, the rocket exploded at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station last month during a static fire test.

The explosion damaged the company’s only launchpad for the New Glenn.

The question still remains: Will Blue Origin be ready to fly in time for Artemis III?