Meet NASA’s Artemis III Astronauts

Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio, Andre Douglas, and Luca Parmitano combined bring thousands of hours of flight experience.

Jack Daleo

Tuesday, June 09, 2026 at 05:25 PM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Zach Vasile

NASA on Tuesday announced the crewmembers for its Artemis III mission (from left): NASA astronaut Andre Douglas, European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano, and NASA astronauts Randy Bresnik and Frank Rubio. [Credit: NASA/Bill Stafford]

Key Takeaways:

NASA introduced the four-person Artemis III crew, including ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano, who will undertake a critical two-week mission in low-Earth orbit (LEO).
The main objective of Artemis III is to perform an integrated test of commercial Human Landing System (HLS) vehicles from both SpaceX and Blue Origin in LEO.
The mission involves docking the Orion capsule with both Blue Origin's Blue Moon and SpaceX's Starship HLS vehicles, with astronauts entering at least Blue Moon to test life support systems and operational procedures.
Scheduled for no earlier than mid-2027, the mission's success hinges on the readiness of both commercial HLS providers, who still have significant testing and development milestones to complete.

See a mistake? Contact us.

On Tuesday, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch—three of the four crewmembers on NASA’s historic Artemis II mission in April—literally passed the baton to the next four astronauts participating in the space agency’s lunar exploration program.

“We’ve been carrying these batons around for way too long,” Wiseman told Randy Bresnik, who NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman on Tuesday named the commander of the low-Earth orbit (LEO) Artemis III mission. “You’ve got the controls.”