NASA Names Andre Douglas, Frank Rubio, Luca Parmitano, Randy Bresnik for Artemis III Crew

NASA announced the crew of four for Artemis III, the next mission in its program to return Americans to the lunar surface, with the astronauts selected on Tuesday and the mission set to launch before the end of 2027.

“Artemis III astronauts revealed for 'complex' NASA mission Artemis III follows the successful Artemis II mission around the moon”

ABC News

The Artemis III crew includes Andre Douglas, Frank Rubio, Luca Parmitano and Randy Bresnik, and the mission is described as a preparatory flight that will test critical components required for the upcoming moon-landing mission rather than landing on the moon itself.

ABC News

Al Jazeera reported that the two-week mission will focus on collecting research and practising in-space docking procedures in preparation for a future Moon landing.

NBC News said the goal of the flight is to test two commercially developed lunar landers that are slated to carry astronauts to the surface of the moon during the Artemis IV mission in 2028, with Bresnik as commander and Parmitano serving as pilot.

The Artemis III announcement came with concerns tied to the explosion of an uncrewed Blue Origin New Glenn rocket in Florida on May 28, which damaged the launchpad complex where the takeoff was scheduled.

Al Jazeera said Jeremy Parsons, NASA’s acting deputy administrator, told reporters, "While we recognise there are questions about how Blue Origin’s recent anomaly impacts our plans, setbacks are a learning opportunity," and added that NASA was taking an "active role" with partners.

Al Jazeera

NBC News described the same Artemis III technology-testing purpose as a way to prove "highly choreographed operations" with partners across hardware interfaces, software propulsion systems and life support elements with crew in the high-stakes space environment.

The BBC reported that Blue Origin watched its New Glenn rocket blow up during a routine engine test, and said Blue Origin has no other way to launch New Glenn, adding that it could take months to repair the damage.

NASA’s Artemis III plan is framed as a step toward Artemis IV, with the mission expected to last about two weeks in low-Earth orbit while the Orion spacecraft practices rendezvous and docking with prototype lunar landers.

“Nasa names next astronauts for Artemis Moon programme NASA has named its crew for its next major Moon mission, Artemis III, though the astronauts will not walk on the Moon or go anywhere near it”

BBC

NPR reported that Artemis III will demonstrate the Orion crew capsule’s rendezvous and docking capabilities with two commercially designed and built lunar landers not near the moon but instead in low-Earth orbit, and it said the mission begins with the uncrewed launch of Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander that can stay in orbit for 90 days.

The BBC said the Artemis III mission changed from an historic, crewed lunar landing to a technology test in Earth orbit because of delays to SpaceX’s Starship rocket, and it cited a Government Accountability Office finding in March that SpaceX had made "limited progress" maturing technologies needed for in-orbit refuelling and cryogenic propellant storage.

Scientific American described Artemis III as NASA’s critical next step toward landing humans back on the moon for the first time in more than 50 years, and it quoted Jeremy Parsons saying the mission is "an incredibly exciting, complicated and highly coordinated multilaunch campaign."