The objective of the mission, set to launch no earlier than this time next year, is to conduct key flight tests of the Orion spacecraft, docking with two commercially built landers in Earth orbit that will be critical for the agency’s future lunar landing mission.
It’s a key step ahead of NASA’s Artemis IV mission, which will take humans to the lunar surface.
“Will we use Artemis III to get into the rhythm of multi-launch campaigns, test the interoperability across several systems while close to home, learn and improve and inform the changes necessary when the torch will be passed once again,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman ahead of the announcement of the crew.
The Crew
Isaacman and leaders at NASA announced the crew Tuesday at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
NASA’s Randy Bresnik is commanding the mission along with fellow astronauts Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas as mission specialists. European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano will serve as mission pilot.
Bresnik served in the U.S. Marine Corps before his astronaut selection in 2004. He’s flown to the International Space Station twice – once on NASA’s Space Shuttle and another mission flying in Russia’s Soyuz capsule. He’s spent 149 days in space and logged five spacewalks.
Mission specialist Rubio served in the U.S. Army and is a board-certified family physician and flight surgeon. He flew to the International Space Station in 2022 on a Soyuz capsule, and his mission was extended after damage to the vehicle was discovered. During his extended stay, Rubio broke the record of longest spaceflight by an American astronaut at 371 days.
This will be the first spaceflight for mission specialist Douglas. He is a Coast Guard reserve officer and was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2021. He is a systems engineer with a doctorate from George Washington University.
Italian pilot Parmitano is an ESA astronaut and will be making his third flight to space. Parmitano flew two Soyuz missions to the space station. During a spacewalk in 2013, Parmitano’s helmet began filling with water. Due to a risk of drowning, his spacewalk was cut short.
“This mission is going to be fantastic. What an excellent crew,” Douglas said. “Go Artemis! Go NASA!”
NASA astronaut Bob Heines, who piloted SpaceX’s Crew-4 mission, was named as backup crewmember for the Artemis III mission.
The Mission
In an effort to return humans to the lunar surface by 2028, NASA is relying on two commercial companies to design and build the landers that will take astronauts there.
As part of NASA’s Human Landing System contracts, Blue Origin is developing its Blue Moon lander, and SpaceX is building Starship.
Artemis III will dock with both vehicles in low-Earth orbit.
“This test flight will enable us to prove we can carry out highly choreographed operations with our partners across hardware interfaces, software, propulsion systems, and life support elements with crew in the high stakes space environment,” said NASA’s Jeremy Parsons. “Are we able to launch in sequence with our partners across multiple launch pads and meet up at precise points in space?”
That’s a question he hopes the Artemis III crew and its commercial partners will answer.
Artemis III will begin with the uncrewed launch of Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander into low-Earth orbit, where it can remain for up to 90 days. Then, the Artemis III crew will launch atop NASA’s SLS rocket from the Kennedy Space Center.
Their Orion space capsule will then dock with the Blue Moon lander for two days. The crew will open the hatch and explore inside – testing key life support and control systems of the lander.
Orion will detach from that lander as SpaceX’s Starship launches to catch up with the capsule in orbit. Orion will dock with Starship for about a day before the Artemis III crew returns home.
The Artemis III mission is expected to last two weeks.
SUB: The Future
Work on Artemis III has already begun, including preparations at the launch site at Kennedy Space Center. That includes assembling the massive SLS rocket in KSC’s Vehicle Assembly Building. Isaacman hopes to roll the rocket out to the pad and conduct a dress rehearsal of launch day by the end of this year.
At the same time, both Blue Origin and SpaceX continue to test their landing hardware.
“The expectation of your NASA should be that we can pursue and achieve many extraordinary objectives at once,” Isaacman said.
But that pursuit has hit a snag. Last month, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket exploded at its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, damaging the facility.
New Glenn is slated to launch the company’s lander into orbit for the Artemis III test mission.
“While we recognize there are questions about how Blue Origin's recent anomaly impacts our plans, setbacks are a learning opportunity,” said Blue Origin’s John Couluris. “We are confident that New Glenn will be ready for Artemis III.”
SpaceX continues to develop its Starship vehicle, which has completed 12 test launches, ahead of the Artemis III mission.
For NASA to land humans on the moon in 2028, Artemis III must be a success.
“The most important Artemis mission will always be the next Artemis mission,” Bresnik said.
In that vein, Bresnik and his crew will work with the Artemis II astronauts, who successfully flew around the moon and back earlier this year on a key test flight of the Orion spacecraft, learning from their mission. During that flight, the crew carried a track and field baton, a symbol of the step-by-step development needed to return to the moon.
On Tuesday, Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman passed the baton.
“We've been carrying these batons around for way too long,” he said. “So with that, the Artemis II crew hands you the baton. You got the controls”
