NASA assigns crew for Artemis III, sets aggressive timeline for flying it

“Artemis III will be an extraordinary demonstration of what is possible.” The US space agency unveiled the crew for its Artemis III mission on Tuesday during an enthusiastic event at Johnson Space Center in Houston. For this spaceflight into low-Earth orbit, which will see the Orion spacecraft rendezvous and dock with lunar lander prototypes, NASA chose an experienced, all-male crew with military backgrounds. They were revealed inside a darkened Teague Auditorium where hundreds of friends, family members, and NASA employees cheered enthusiastically. The Artemis III test flight will serve as a bridge between the recent Artemis II lunar flyby mission, which was successfully completed in April, and a planned lunar landing with the Artemis IV mission. “We are the unifying link between Artemis II and Artemis IV,” Bresnik said Tuesday. NASA added this low-Earth orbit Artemis mission several months ago after new Administrator Jared Isaacman decided the agency needed to “buy down risk” before putting humans on the Moon. And that is the goal with Artemis III, an approximately two-week mission due to launch no earlier than summer 2027. Space agency officials outlined plans for the flight on