From left: Andre Douglas, Luca Parmitano, Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio.
Credit: NASA
On Tuesday, NASA announced the crew members chosen for the upcoming Artemis III orbital mission. No longer a crewed expedition to the Moon thanks to delays, Artemis III will pave the way for lunar touchdown by the newly added Artemis IV.
This new timeline for Artemis III will see it undertake “a series of challenging tests” in Earth orbit over the course of 2027. These will be essential for Artemis IV, the first planned crewed mission to the lunar South Pole, in 2028. Crew assignments are as follows:
NASA Astronaut Randy Bresnik (Commander)
Bresnik trained with the Marine Corps, attending the Weapons and Tactics Instructors Course and Naval Fighter Weapons School, AKA TOPGUN. From here, he became an F/A-18 Test Pilot, eventually flying combat missions over Kuwait. Eventually, Bresnik participated in the Space Shuttle mission STS-129, served as Engineer on the International Space Station for Expedition 52, and was Commander for Expedition 53. He’s completed more than 30 hours of extravehicular activity (EVA) over five walks.
ESA Astronaut Luca Parmitano (Pilot)
Parmitano is an Italian Air Force pilot who has flown all manner of craft, both in and out of the atmosphere. He twice served on the International Space Station, including as Commander of Expedition 61.
A render of the SpaceX Starship HLS on the lunar surface.
Credit: SpaceX
NASA Astronaut Andre Douglas (Mission Specialist)
Douglas is a lifelong engineer and scientist, having attended Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab (APL), where he worked on maritime robotics, planetary defense, and space exploration missions.
NASA Astronaut Frank Rubio (Mission Specialist)
Rubio is a medical doctor who also flew as a US Army aviator—very useful on a space mission. He’s flown Black Hawks and other modern military vehicles; at the time of his selection for this crew, he was a member of the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Carson, CO.
The backup crew member will be Bob Hines. Hines is yet another Air Force pilot, a background that culminated in him piloting NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission to the International Space Station. He spent 170 days as an ISS crew member and now has the chance to take over on Artemis III, should anything go wrong with one of them.
Because it’s now an orbital mission, Artemis III is far more likely to actually come to fruition on its proposed timeline; 2027 for Artemis III seems very doable, while 2028 for Artemis IV seems pie-in-the-sky. SpaceX will almost certainly not have its Human Landing System (HLS) ready for that year.
Still, Artemis III will help to build toward that mission. First, it will test the Orion lander, including rendezvous and docking with test versions of proposed commercial landers. Next, the agency will test crew transfer onto said landers, as well as new spacesuit designs with a spacewalk.
If Artemis III had been even close to on schedule for a Moon landing, these tests would not have been conducted as part of their own numbered mission. Now, with Artemis IV at least 2 years away, the tests have been recast as a major milestone.
As the Artemis mission progresses, we’ll keep you in the loop about launch dates. That’s true for Artemis III, for Artemis IV, and for any that come after.
