The crew for the next Artemis mission has finally been revealed. The four-person astronaut crew was revealed by NASA on June 9 for the Artemis III mission that is scheduled to launch in 2027. Composed of three veterans and a rookie, the crew includes European Space Agency’s (ESA) Luca Parmitano as mission pilot and three American astronauts – Randy Bresnik as mission commander, Frank Rubio as mission specialist and Andre Douglas, also as mission specialist.
US Air Force colonel and SpaceX Crew-4 mission pilot Bob Hines will serve as the backup astronaut.
Introducing your Artemis III crew: NASA astronauts @AstroKomrade, @Astro_AndreD, and Frank Rubio and @ESA astronaut @Astro_Luca. pic.twitter.com/ljfxlOBw0U
— NASA (@NASA) June 9, 2026
Artemis III will mark the first space mission for Douglas. Interestingly, he was the backup for the Artemis II mission which launched to the Moon and back in April. Parmitano, on the other hand, is the most experienced among the quartet with 367 days of spaceflight experience in two long-duration mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
After the crew was announced during the live event at the Johnson Space Center, NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman who commanded the Artemis II mission, handed over the baton as a symbolic gesture to the soon-to-be fliers.
“We just want to say how completely fire up we are for you,” Wiseman told the Artemis III astronauts.
“We just want to say how completely fired up we are for you.”
Artemis II crew members @Astro_Reid, @AstroVicGlover, and @Astro_Christina hand the Artemis baton to the newly-announced Artemis III crew. pic.twitter.com/nYwnHKwnqv
— NASA (@NASA) June 9, 2026
What is NASA’s Artemis III about?
The Artemis III mission is not about orbiting the Moon or landing on it, in fact, it won’t even leave Earth’s orbit. NASA plans to test rendezvous and docking of Moon landers built by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin with the Orion spacecraft in the low-Earth orbit.
Reports say the astronauts will board the Orion spacecraft and dock with one or both the commercial landers while conducting experiments crucial for future Moon landing missions.
During the live event, NASA’s head of science Nicky Fox said that the astronauts will perform experiments focussed on Earth’s atmosphere and the space environment that will provide key insights before the next crewed lunar mission.
If both SpaceX and Blue Origin landers are involved with Orion, we would see three rocket launches for Artemis III. “Artemis III is an incredibly exciting, complicated, and highly coordinated multi-launch campaign. It’s going to happen in a short period of time with three of the world’s most powerful rockets,” Artemis lead Jeremy Parsons said during the live event.
While SpaceX is building the Starship rocket, Blue Origin is working on the Blue Moon lander which will rendezvous with Orion in Earth orbit. Both companies are contributing to NASA’s Artemis Program to establish sustainable lunar bases through the Human Landing System (HLS) program, which has faced significant delays over the last few years.
If all goes well and within the planned timeline, Artemis IV could launch in 2028, taking humans back to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972.
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