NASA Artemis III Announcement Recap: Crew, Mission Details & What’s Next

NASA Artemis III Announcement Recap: Crew, Mission Details & What’s Next

On Tuesday, June 9, 2026, NASA provided updates on the Artemis III Mission and announced crew members for the test flight. Planned to launch in 2027, the mission will practice docking the Orion spacecraft with two lunar landers in low Earth orbit. 

On future missions, including Artemis IV in 2028, landers will bring astronauts to the lunar surface. While Artemis III will not land on the Moon, it will test the complex capabilities we need to return—this time to stay.

Artemis III Crew:
• European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Luca Parmitano, pilot
• NASA astronaut Andre Douglas, mission specialist
• NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, mission specialist
• NASA astronaut Bob Hines, backup crew member

• NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, commander

Blue Origin is developing a crewed lunar version of the company’s Blue Moon lander, while SpaceX is developing a crewed lunar lander version of the company’s Starship, with both companies building test articles for Artemis III. NASA is supporting both lander providers hands-on throughout design, development, testing, and evaluation, including sharing agency expertise and capabilities gained from previous missions.

After completing docked operations with Blue Origin, Orion will detach and await Starship. SpaceX’s Starship pathfinder will launch and meet up with Orion to spend about a day connected for checkouts and testing. After that, Orion and its crew will undock and return home, splashing safely down in the Pacific Ocean.

In total, the crew is expected to remain in space for about two weeks with exact mission length to be determined in real-time based on launch, rendezvous, and docked operations.

Learn more about NASA’s Artemis Program: https://www.nasa.gov/artemis

Video Credit: NASA
Duration: 2 minutes
Release Date: June 9, 2026

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