Key facts
- NASA has named Andre Douglas, Frank Rubio, Randy Bresnik, and Luca Parmitano for the Artemis III mission.
- The Artemis III mission will now fly in low Earth orbit to test lunar landers, not land on the Moon.
- Delays with SpaceX's Starship rocket and an explosion involving Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket contributed to the mission change.
- The mission is now tentatively scheduled for 2027, with a lunar landing planned for Artemis IV in 2028.
- Randy Bresnik will command the mission, Luca Parmitano will be the pilot, and Andre Douglas and Frank Rubio will be mission specialists.
NASA has named the four-person crew for its Artemis III mission, a critical step in its program to return humans to the Moon. The crew, consisting of U.S. astronauts Andre Douglas, Frank Rubio, and Randy Bresnik, alongside Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency, will not land on the Moon as originally planned. Instead, the mission, now tentatively scheduled for 2027, will test prototype lunar landers in low Earth orbit due to significant delays with the SpaceX Starship and Blue Origin New Glenn rockets.
Randy Bresnik will serve as the mission commander, Luca Parmitano as pilot, and Andre Douglas and Frank Rubio as mission specialists. The shift in mission objectives stems from challenges in developing the necessary technology, including SpaceX's Starship, which requires in-orbit refuelling, and damage to Blue Origin's launch pad following an engine test failure. These setbacks have pushed the timeline for lunar landings, with Artemis IV now targeted for early 2028 and Artemis V for later that year.
The urgency for NASA's lunar program is partly driven by geopolitical competition, with China aiming for a crewed Moon landing by 2030 and a U.S. executive order directing NASA to return astronauts to the Moon by 2028. Experts suggest that China may reach the Moon first given the current technological and logistical hurdles faced by NASA and its partners.