NASA announced the four astronauts who will fly to space as soon as next year to test out moon landers built by SpaceX and Blue Origin - the next stage in the agency's ambitious Artemis program to ultimately send humans back to the lunar surface.
The newly assigned crew includes NASA astronauts Andre Douglas and Frank Rubio, who will serve as mission specialists. They'll be joined by Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano, the mission's pilot, and NASA's Randy Bresnik, the flight's commander. The upcoming Artemis III mission is slated to fly as early as 2027.
The crew will not be heading to the moon's vicinity. Instead, they'll fly into orbit around the Earth on a roughly two-week trip to test the landers, which eventually will be used to take humans to the lunar surface as soon as 2028.
Working landers are critical to the long-term success of the Artemis program, which aims to eventually establish a base on the moon where humans can live and work. NASA has also said the lessons learned will help prepare the agency for future missions to Mars.
"To the Artemis III crew, we wish you Godspeed on the journey ahead," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said Tuesday during a ceremony introducing the crew. "You carry the fire of exploration from generations past, the confidence of this agency and the support of this nation."
Artemis III is slated to occur about a year after the Artemis II launch, which sent four astronauts around the moon in April. That mission tested the prowess and safety of the Boeing Co.-built Space Launch System rocket and the Lockheed Martin Corp.-manufactured Orion crew capsule.
Artemis III was originally intended to be the first mission to land US astronauts on the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. But in February, Isaacman changed it to a test mission to make the upcoming moon landing safer. The agency now aims to send humans back to the lunar surface in Artemis IV.
NASA's tentative plan for Artemis III is to first send Blue Origin's lunar lander into orbit around Earth. The crew would then launch into space on the SLS rocket, riding inside the Orion capsule.
The astronauts will dock with the Blue Origin lander for around two days, and enter and operate the vehicle. After that part of the mission is complete, they'll separate and dock with SpaceX's Starship lander for about a day.
"We are confident the New Glenn will be ready for Artemis III," NASA official Jeremy Parsons, who oversees the moon to Mars program, said at Tuesday's event, addressing the explosion of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket, which is needed to propel the company's lander to space.
During the selection ceremony, executives from SpaceX and Blue Origin provided updates on the progress of their lunar landers, with SpaceX saying the company intends to perform a highly anticipated Starship fueling demonstration in space later this year. In order to reach distant destinations in space, Starship must be refueled in orbit.
The company said it's building the Starship crew cabin for the upcoming moon landing mission at its Starbase facility in Texas.
SpaceX also confirmed that Starship, not NASA's SLS rocket, will be used to propel Orion to the moon for a future lunar landing mission, confirming a Bloomberg report from March.
NASA's Parsons said the space agency intends to fly new Artemis spacesuits developed by Axiom Space Inc., in partnership with Italian fashion company Prada SpA, to the International Space Station in 2027 to perform checks.
The agency also plans to conduct some tests with the suit during Artemis III on one of the landers. Axiom and Prada unveiled the design of the suit's inner layer on Sunday.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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