NASA Names Crew for Artemis III Moon Mission

NASA announced Tuesday the four astronauts who will fly the Artemis III mission, the next major step in the agency's effort to return humans to the lunar surface.

Three Americans make up the core of the crew: Andre Douglas, Frank Rubio, and Randy Bresnik. Douglas will be making his first trip to space. Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano rounds out the group of four.

The crew is expected to launch late in 2027 aboard the Orion capsule on a test flight into low-Earth orbit, before docking with a lunar lander. That lander could come from SpaceX's Starship or Blue Origin's Blue Moon. NASA chief Jared Isaacman said Tuesday the mission could actually involve docking with both.

The two-week mission is designed to test the different technologies that will be critical to landing astronauts back on the moon, with NASA eyeing as early as 2028 for that milestone.