NASA has named four astronauts—three Americans and one Italian—for Artemis III, a 2027 mission focused on docking Orion with two commercial lunar landers in low-Earth orbit. The final hurdle before NASA attempts crewed moon landings follows Artemis II, and com
Randy Bresnik was already on track to make his third trip to space when NASA unveiled the crew for Artemis III this Tuesday. June 9. at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. The mission’s stakes are bigger than a routine launch: it’s the last major test flight meant to clear the way for NASA to put humans back on the lunar surface next year.
Artemis III will not send astronauts beyond Earth orbit. Instead. the crew will focus on a single. unforgiving task—meeting and docking in low-Earth orbit with two different commercial lunar landers. It’s a step NASA officials have described as among the most complicated missions the agency has attempted. built around multiple rocket launches. multiple launch sites. and an extended choreography across a two-week period in the United States.
Artemis III will demonstrate the power of American innovation and international partnership as crews test complex rendezvous and docking operations and advance the technologies that will one day carry NASA deeper into the solar system. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a statement. He added that the mission will require “the most awe-inspiring coordination of heavy-lift rocket launches in history. ” drawing on teams across government and the spaceflight community.
The crew is expected to travel to Earth’s orbit in 2027, with Andre Douglas, Frank Rubio, Luca Parmitano, and Randy Bresnik all named to the Artemis III mission. All four are men.
Bresnik. a NASA astronaut and retired Marine colonel from Santa Monica. California. will serve as commander for the mission and will be making his third trip to space. Parmitano. an Italian from the European Space Agency. will be the pilot; he has traveled on two spaceflights to the International Space Station. Andre Douglas. a NASA astronaut from Miami. Florida. is the mission specialist making his first spaceflight after serving as a backup crewmember of Artemis II. Frank Rubio. also a NASA astronaut from Miami. Florida. will be a mission specialist and an Army combat pilot who set a record in 2023 for longest single spaceflight of any American during a mission to the ISS.
NASA also named Bob Hines as a backup crew member. Hines is a U.S. Air Force veteran who has been to space once. He will train with the rest of the crew and could participate if another crew member drops out.
The mission is targeted for 2027 and is the third mission under NASA’s new lunar program and the second with a crew. Artemis III’s primary objective is for astronauts aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft to meet and dock in low-Earth orbit with both commercial lunar landers being developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin— the same region where the International Space Station operates.
Orion is planned to carry the Artemis III astronauts on top of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. launching from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In parallel, each lander is expected to reach orbit through separate rocket launches. SpaceX would use its Starship Super Heavy booster for its lander, the SpaceX Starship Human Landing System (HLS). Blue Origin plans to use its New Glenn for its lander, Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 2.
Earlier in the run-up to the press conference. there was a question of whether any of the Artemis III astronauts would actually board either lunar lander after the rendezvous. NASA’s plan. outlined by Artemis program manager Jeremy Parsons. is for two of the crew members to enter the Blue Moon lander through its hatch after the docking maneuver.
After that docking, the Orion spacecraft would detach two days later and await the Starship HLS, and astronauts may or may not also enter that vehicle after docking. The overall mission would conclude with another splashdown in the Pacific Ocean near California.
There’s also an uneasy backdrop to the mission planning: both commercial landers have faced delays in development. SpaceX’s Starship was recently grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration. which licenses commercial rocket launches. amid an investigation into an issue during its most recent uncrewed flight test in May. Blue Origin’s New Glenn. meanwhile. exploded at the end of May ahead of a planned launch in Cape Canaveral. Florida.
At the press conference, NASA officials and leaders at both companies sought to quell concerns about readiness, saying they expected both New Glenn and Starship to be operational for Artemis III.
The pressure to keep the timeline intact is real because Artemis III follows Artemis II— the April mission that captivated the world by sending four astronauts on an audacious journey to circle the moon. Artemis II’s crew was NASA’s Reid Wiseman. Victor Glover. and Christina Koch. along with the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen. That flight made them the first people to venture near the moon in more than 50 years. traveling farther from Earth than any before them. while still stopping short of landing.
Artemis II and Artemis III are envisioned as test flights before the first of many crewed moon landings is attempted as early as 2028. Artemis III will primarily test docking capabilities with lunar landers. while Artemis II was the first major test of both the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft with humans aboard. Those systems—and the commercial landers—are considered critical to NASA’s longer-term plan to construct a $20 billion lunar base where astronauts can live and work long term.
NASA’s Artemis campaign has the objective of building toward both crewed and uncrewed missions to the moon. aiming to establish a long-term human presence. Under the Artemis program. the agency plans to put astronauts on the surface of the moon for the first time since the Apollo era ended in 1972. NASA also frames the moon as a stepping stone for human exploration deeper into space. with one prime objective being to determine how humans can survive and thrive on the lunar surface before heading to Mars.
The Artemis campaign was established during President Donald Trump’s first term amid a heated space race with China. Trump has indicated he wants to see a human moon landing before his second term ends.
If Artemis III’s docking test runs as planned, SpaceX’s and Blue Origin’s landers would be responsible for ferrying astronauts from lunar orbit to and from the moon’s surface beginning as early as 2028 with Artemis IV.
This mission also comes as the United States races with China to return humans to the moon for the first time since the Apollo era came to an end a half-century ago. For the Artemis III crew. the focus on rendezvous and docking in Earth orbit may sound narrower than a moon landing. But it is precisely that narrowness—meeting two different commercial systems on a tight schedule—that makes the mission feel like a hinge in NASA’s timeline.
The article has been updated to add new information.
NASA Artemis III Artemis Space Launch System Orion SpaceX Starship HLS Blue Origin Blue Moon Mark 2 docking test lunar landers Randy Bresnik Luca Parmitano Andre Douglas Frank Rubio Bob Hines FAA New Glenn Artemis II