The announcement, made at Johnson Space Center, advances preparations for sustained lunar exploration under the Artemis program. Artemis III follows the successful Artemis II lunar flyby in April 2026 and serves as a bridge to future crewed landings on the Moon, News.Az reports, citing The Dallas Express.
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Commander Randolph “Randy” Bresnik, a veteran NASA astronaut with two prior spaceflights, will lead the mission. Joining him are mission specialists Andre Douglas and Francisco “Frank” Rubio, both from the NASA Astronaut Corps, and pilot Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency.
Bresnik previously flew on STS-129 in 2009 and Soyuz MS-05 in 2017. Rubio has accumulated significant time in space, including a long-duration stay aboard the International Space Station. Parmitano, an ESA astronaut, has flown twice to the station and conducted multiple spacewalks. Douglas represents one of NASA’s more recent astronaut classes.
The mission will launch four astronauts aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft atop the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Once in orbit, the crew will practice critical maneuvers with commercial landers provided by industry partners, validating systems needed for eventual surface missions.
“Artemis III will pave the way for future surface missions,” NASA stated in its pre-announcement materials. The agency aims to use these steps to “explore more of the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, establish an enduring human presence on the lunar surface, and to build on our foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.”
Hardware progress includes SLS booster segments already at Kennedy Space Center. The mission design has shifted from an initial south polar landing concept to an Earth-orbit test flight to reduce risk and demonstrate docking capabilities with commercial vehicles.
