--- title: Who NASA Chose For Its Artemis III Crew and What Their Mission Is description: NASA revealed on Tuesday the four astronauts who will make up the crew of the Artemis III moon mission. canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/06/09/nasa-artemis-iii-crew-announced/ author: Chantelle Lee article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-06-09T20:11:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-06-09T20:50:05.349Z article:section: Science og:title: Who NASA Chose For Its Artemis III Crew and What Their Mission Is og:description: NASA revealed on Tuesday the four astronauts who will make up the crew of the Artemis III lunar mission. og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/06/09/nasa-artemis-iii-crew-announced/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4433fbb01df4de54/6a286d7fd17dd918b4ae56dd/Artemis-III-Crew.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Artemis-III-Crew.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Who NASA Chose For Its Artemis III Crew and What Their Mission Is twitter:description: NASA revealed on Tuesday the four astronauts who will make up the crew of the Artemis III lunar mission. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4433fbb01df4de54/6a286d7fd17dd918b4ae56dd/Artemis-III-Crew.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Who NASA Chose For Its Artemis III Crew and What Their Mission Is > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: NASA Introduces Artemis III's 4 Astronaut Crew Members [Watch (HLS stream): NASA Introduces Artemis III's 4 Astronaut Crew Members](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/3Jdcogwf.m3u8) (1:55)  _Published 2026-06-09. NASA revealed on Tuesday the four astronauts who will make up the crew of the Artemis III lunar mission._ by [Chantelle Lee](https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/) ## Chantelle Lee Reporter Jun 9, 2026 8:11 PM UTC by [Chantelle Lee](https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/) ## Chantelle Lee Reporter Jun 9, 2026 8:11 PM UTC NASA revealed on Tuesday the four astronauts who will make up the crew of [Artemis](https://time.com/article/2026/04/10/artemis-ii-historic-splashdown/) III. The four crew members are all men, three of whom are American and one who is Italian: commander Randy Bresnik, pilot Luca Parmitano, mission specialist Andre Douglas, and mission specialist [Frank Rubio](https://time.com/6565418/astronaut-frank-rubio-interview/). The backup crew member, Bob Hines, is also American. NASA officials also shared new details about the Artemis III mission during an event on Tuesday, including the role the [Blue Origin](https://time.com/article/2026/05/29/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-rocket-explodes-launch-pad-video-response/) lander will play in the [lunar mission](https://time.com/article/2026/04/07/artemis-ii-moon-earth-photos/). While [NASA](https://time.com/7346146/artemis-ii-launch-nasa-astronauts-moon-mission/) and Blue Origin officials acknowledged the recent New Glenn rocket [explosion](https://time.com/article/2026/05/29/blue-origin-rocket-explosion-nasa-moon/) that damaged Blue Origin’s launchpad, they expressed optimism about the upcoming mission, which is scheduled to take place in 2027. “While we recognize there are questions about how Blue Origin’s recent anomaly impacts our plans, setbacks are a learning opportunity,” Jeremy Parsons, the Acting Assistant Deputy Associate Administrator for the Moon to Mars Program Office at NASA, said during Tuesday’s event. “We are confident that New Glenn will be ready for Artemis III, together with Blue Origin.” Here’s what to know about the Artemis III crew members and the moon mission. ## Randy Bresnik Bresnik will be the commander of the Artemis III mission. Bresnik, a retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel, was selected as an astronaut in 2004, according to [NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/people/randolph-komrade-bresnik/). He was previously the commander of the International Space Station for [Expedition 53](https://www.nasa.gov/mission/expedition-53/) in 2017\. Over the course of his career, he has logged more than 7,000 hours in nearly a hundred types of aircrafts, rotorcrafts, and gliders, as well as 3,600 hours in spacecrafts. “We are certainly humbled as a crew to be able to be your crew that executes this Artemis III mission in space,” Bresnik said on Tuesday, “being that unifying link between the phenomenal Artemis II mission we just had two months ago and the Artemis IV mission that will follow ours, where we will again be the first to land humans on another celestial body—that celestial body being our neighbor in the sky at night, the moon.” ## Luca Parmitano Parmitano, a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut, will be the pilot of the Artemis III mission. Parmitano, who was born in Italy, was selected as an ESA astronaut in 2009, according to [ESA](https://www.esa.int/Science%5FExploration/Human%5Fand%5FRobotic%5FExploration/Astronauts/Luca%5FParmitano). He was a colonel in the Italian Air Force and, over the course of his career, he has accumulated more than 2,000 hours of flying and has operated more than 40 kinds of aircrafts. “I’m honored by the role that I’ve been given,” he said. “I’m also very humbled by the task in front of us. But first and foremost, I’m grateful. There are many parts that need to come together for a space launch and you need a launchpad. And for me, that launchpad is my country, Italy.” “The European Space Agency is like a launch tower connecting these two worlds, building bridges,” he continued. “The rocket, figuratively and literally, is NASA. I am grateful that NASA has allowed me to be part of this incredible group of people, of this crew, and for letting me fly.” ## Andre Douglas Douglas will be one of the two mission specialists on the Artemis III mission. Chosen by NASA to be part of the 2021 astronaut candidate class, Douglas ultimately reported for duty in 2022, according to the [space agency](https://www.nasa.gov/people/nasa-astronaut-andre-douglas/). He also held various roles in the U.S. Coast Guard, including as a naval architect, salvage engineer, and damage control assistant. Douglas was a backup crew member for the Artemis II test flight, and trained alongside the four astronauts who embarked on that mission. The Artemis III mission will be Douglas’ first space flight. “Wow, what an amazing day it is today,” he said on Tuesday. “My brain, it is going a mile a minute right now. But my heart—my heart, it is so warm, it is so full.” ## Frank Rubio Rubio will be the other mission specialist on the Artemis III mission. Rubio, who is a family medicine physician and a U.S. Army colonel, was chosen by NASA to be part of the 2017 astronaut candidate class and reported for duty that year, according to the [space agency](https://www.nasa.gov/people/frank-rubio/). Rubio [broke the record](https://time.com/6565418/astronaut-frank-rubio-interview/) for the longest continuous spaceflight by an American astronaut, after launching for a mission on Sept. 21, 2022 and then returning to Earth on Sept. 27, 2023—a duration of 371 days. His trip back to Earth was delayed by six months as a result of a coolant leak on the spacecraft that he was initially meant to return in. “What an incredible blessing and an honor it is to be standing here representing all of you,” Rubio said on Tuesday. ## Bob Hines Hines was named as a backup crew member to the Artemis III mission, and will train alongside Bresnik, Rubio, Douglas, and Parmitano. He was chosen by NASA to be part of the 2017 astronaut candidate class, according to the [space agency](https://www.nasa.gov/people/bob-hines/). He served in the U.S. Air Force for more than two decades. He was previously the pilot on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission to the International Space Station, which ended in October 2022. ## What will the Artemis III moon mission do? The Artemis III mission will involve launching the Blue Origin lander first, and then an Orion capsule, launched aboard NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, which will contain the crew. The Orion and Blue Origin lander will [rendezvous](https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-marches-toward-artemis-iii-mission-in-2027-names-crew-members/) in space, and be docked together for about two days. Then the Orion capsule will detach from the Blue Origin lander and will dock with Space X’s Starship for about a day, before the crew begins preparations to return home, Parsons said. In total, Parsons said NASA expects the mission to last about two weeks. The mission will not involve the crew landing on the moon; rather, “this mission is deliberately designed to take calculated risk so that future crews will be safer and ultimately successful when we put boots on the lunar surface,” Parsons said. NASA has said that it plans to bring humans back to the moon’s surface in 2028 with the Artemis IV and V missions. ## Transcript Moving on to our mission specialist for Artemis three test engineer and Coast Guard Reserve commander making his first space flight mission specialist Andre Douglas. And we have Army Blackhawk helicopter pilot, family medicine physician and record setting astronaut, mission specialist Colonel Frank Rubio. Now, on to our pilot. Two time flyer, ESA astronaut, the first Italian space station commander, an Italian air force colonel. And test pilot, Luca Parmitano. Now to our commander, two time astronaut, former space station commander, Marine Corps colonel and test pilot with more than 7000 flight hours. Artemis three commander Randy Bresnik. 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