NASA Names Artemis III Crew — Bresnik, Parmitano, Rubio, Douglas Assigned to LEO Rendezvous/Docking Test
NASA announced the four-astronaut crew for Artemis III on June 9, 2026, at Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik will command the mission, with ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano serving as pilot — the first ESA astronaut ever assigned to an Artemis mission. NASA astronauts Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas were named mission specialists, with NASA astronaut Bob Hines named backup crew member. Artemis III — redesignated in February 2026 as an Earth-orbit rendezvous and docking demonstration rather than a crewed lunar landing — will see Orion dock with test versions of the SpaceX Starship HLS and/or Blue Origin Blue Moon Mk2 landers at roughly 460 km altitude, verifying crew transfer procedures, AxEMU spacesuits, and lander interfaces ahead of the first crewed lunar landing on Artemis IV, targeted for 2028. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the mission "will demonstrate the power of American innovation and international partnership as we test complex rendezvous and docking operations." The crew will train for roughly a year and a half — shorter than the three-year training cycle Artemis II's crew underwent — ahead of a targeted 2027 launch.
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- T1 NASA — NASA Marches Toward Artemis III Mission in 2027, Names Crew Members Official western
- T2 NPR — NASA names 4 astronauts on the 'highly complex' Artemis III lunar training mission Major western
- T2 CNN — NASA reveals Artemis III crew and mission update Major western