NASA revealed the crew for its Artemis III mission on June 9, 2026. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.
The crew includes NASA astronauts Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio, Andre Douglas, and the European Space Agency's Luca Parmitano. They will not fly to the moon or land on its surface. Instead, they will orbit Earth while practicing docking their Orion capsule with two lunar landers.
"To the Artemis III crew, we wish you Godspeed on the journey ahead," said NASA administrator Jared Isaacman.
The announcement came two months after Artemis II's record-breaking trip around the moon that surpassed the distance record of Apollo 13.
Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin are racing to deliver the lunar landers. The two-week demo is targeted for 2027. Blue Origin suffered a recent setback when its massive rocket exploded during an engine-firing test on the launch pad in Florida, shaking nearby homes and illuminating the sky with an orange fireball.
NASA's Jeremy Parsons said the setback is a learning opportunity and that the space agency is confident Blue Origin's rocket will be ready in time.
NASA's Artemis program aims to return astronauts to the moon's surface for the first time since the 1970s. A recent revamp of the program announced by Isaacman aims to fast-track it similarly to the Apollo era.