Nasa has named the crew for Artemis III, a mission that will test critical docking procedures in low Earth orbit before astronauts return to the lunar surface later this decade.

The agency announced on [insert date if known from source; omitted] that veteran astronaut Randy Bresnik will command the flight. European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano will serve as pilot. Mission specialists Andre Douglas and Frank Rubio, both Nasa astronauts, round out the prime crew. Bob Hines is assigned as the backup crew member.

Artemis III is scheduled to launch in 2027. Unlike the Apollo missions that preceded it by half a century, this flight will not land on the Moon. Instead, the four-person crew will pilot the Orion spacecraft and practice docking with two lunar landers while still in low Earth orbit.

Those landers — built by commercial partners under Nasa contracts — are designed to eventually carry astronauts down to the lunar surface. But first, the agency needs to verify that Orion can safely rendezvous and attach to them. That verification is the central objective of Artemis III.

“Another step toward one of the most complex spaceflight missions in history,” Nasa said in its announcement, describing the mission as a test of the capabilities required to return humanity to the Moon — and this time, to stay.

The crew

Commander Randy Bresnik is a Nasa astronaut with previous experience on the International Space Station. He flew on STS-129 in 2009 and spent 168 days aboard the ISS during Expedition 52/53 in 2017, performing three spacewalks.

Pilot Luca Parmitano is an Italian astronaut with the European Space Agency. He is also a veteran of two ISS expeditions, including a 2013 mission cut short by a suit-water leak during a spacewalk, and a 2019 stay during which he commanded the station and conducted a series of spacewalks to repair the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer.

Mission specialist Andre Douglas was selected as a Nasa astronaut in 2021 and is newer to the astronaut corps. This will be his first spaceflight. Frank Rubio, also a mission specialist, recently returned from a 371-day stay aboard the ISS — the longest single spaceflight by an American astronaut — after an unplanned extension due to a coolant leak on a Soyuz spacecraft.

Backup crew member Bob Hines flew to the ISS on the SpaceX Crew-4 mission in 2022, serving as a pilot for the Crew Dragon spacecraft and spending 170 days in orbit.

Mission profile

Artemis III’s flight plan is built around proving the hardware and procedures needed for later landings. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop a Space Launch System rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Once in low Earth orbit, the crew will execute a series of docking maneuvers with two separate landers.

Those landers — likely from SpaceX (Starship) and Blue Origin (Blue Moon Mark 2), though Nasa has not yet officially confirmed final assignments for Artemis III — will be launched separately and await Orion in orbit. The docking tests will verify navigation systems, relative motion control, and crew interfaces before the more demanding lunar orbital docking that Artemis IV will require.

The mission is expected to last between 10 and 14 days, based on typical Orion flight durations, though Nasa has not publicly locked in a precise timeline.

Why no landing?

Artemis III’s role as a docking test rather than a landing mission reflects the deliberate, incremental approach Nasa has adopted for its return to the Moon. The agency’s broader Artemis campaign is designed to build capability step by step, rather than rushing toward a single flag-and-footprints event.

Artemis I, completed in 2022, sent an uncrewed Orion around the Moon and back, validating the capsule’s heat shield and life-support systems. Artemis II, now slated for 2025, will carry a crew of four on a similar lunar flyby — again without landing. Artemis III will add the docking element. Only then, with Artemis IV in 2028, will astronauts actually touch the lunar surface.

Landing on the Moon requires a dedicated lander that can safely descend from lunar orbit to the surface, deal with the lack of atmosphere, and later launch back to orbit. Testing the docking interface in the relatively forgiving environment of low Earth orbit reduces risk before committing to the full lunar architecture.

What comes next

Artemis IV is the mission that will land astronauts on the Moon. Nasa has already selected a four-person crew for that flight, though names have not yet been publicly confirmed. The mission will launch in 2028 and will use a yet-to-be-determined lander (likely Starship or Blue Moon) to carry two astronauts to the surface near the lunar south pole.

Between now and Artemis IV, Nasa and its contractors must complete development and testing of the landers, the docking systems, and the surface suits. The space agency is also working on Gateway, a small space station planned for lunar orbit, though that project’s timeline has slipped and may not be ready before Artemis IV.

Artemis III’s crew will now enter a training pipeline that includes simulator work, spacecraft systems study, and likely at least one integrated simulation with the mission control team at Johnson Space Center.

The bigger picture

The Artemis program represents Nasa’s most ambitious human spaceflight effort since Apollo. The agency is aiming to establish a sustainable presence on the Moon, including a base camp at the south pole, and use lessons learned there to prepare for eventual missions to Mars. Each Artemis flight narrows the gap between ambition and capability.

Artemis III may not produce the kind of live television moments that Apollo 11 did in 1969. But its success — or failure — will determine whether Nasa can move forward with confidence into the next phase of lunar exploration.

For now, the crew of Artemis III has a job to do: prove that the docking works so that the landing can happen.