Nasa names next astronauts for Artemis Moon programme

Nasa names its next Artemis crew, though they will not be walking on the Moon or even going anywhere near it. Artemis III: Nasa names astronauts to prepare for Moon landing Watch: Nasa reveals crew for Artemis III mission Copyright current_year BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. Copyright current_year BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. NASA astronaut commander Randy Bresnik, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut pilot Luca Parmitano, NASA astronaut mission specialist Frank Rubio, and NASA astronaut mission specialist Andre Douglas speak during a press conference announcing the crew for the Artemis III mission at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, on June 9, 2026. Nasa names next astronauts for Artemis Moon programme Nasa reveals crew for Artemis III mission, which will not land on the Moon The crew stand with arms around each other NASA has named its crew for its next major Moon mission, Artemis III, though the astronauts will not walk on the Moon or go anywhere near it. The mission was originally planned as the first crewed lunar landing since Apollo 17 in 1972, with two astronauts due to set down near the Moon's south pole and spend a week on the surface. But in February, Nasa changed that plan and said the mission would fly only in low Earth orbit, barely deeper in space than the International Space Station, and dock with prototype lunar landers. Nasa's Administrator Jared Isaacman said the mission would nevertheless be the most complex ever. "This mission will require the most awe-inspiring coordination of heavy-lift rocket launches in history, drawing on the talent and capability of teams across government and the spaceflight community," he said. Randy Bresnik, a Nasa astronaut, will serve as the mission's commander. Luca Parmitano, of the European Space Agency, will be the pilot of Artemis III. He's spent more than 300 days in space. Americans Andre Douglas and Frank Rubio will be the mission specialists. Bob Heintz will serve as a backup crew member. He is a test pilot who logged 170 days in space and can step into any role needed on the mission. A simplified BBC graphic of the Artemis III mission, against a night-time view of Earth from space. Two looping orbits — orange and purple — trace seven numbered stages. The Space Launch System rocket lifts off from North America. The Orion capsule enters low Earth orbit, then docks with a pathfinder lunar lander already waiting there. The two undock. Orion's crew module separates from its service module. The bell-shaped capsule re-enters the atmosphere and splashes down under a red-and-white parachute in the Pacific off California. A note adds: Orion will complete multiple orbits of Earth. Artemis III changed from being an historic, crewed Moon landing to a technology test in Earth orbit because of delays to Elon Musk's SpaceX's Starship rocket. This is the vehicle intended to take astronauts from lunar orbit to its surface. It was also judged to be too big a leap to go from looping the Moon, with Artemis II, to go straight to a lunar landing without first testing the procedure to dock with the lunar landers in Earth orbit. In March 2026, the Government Accountability Office found that SpaceX had made "limited progress maturing the technologies needed for in-orbit refuelling and cryogenic propellant storage." Starship is so heavy that it cannot reach the Moon withot being refuelled in Earth orbit first. This involves launching a fleet of tanker vehicles which transfer cryogenic liquid methane and liquid oxygen across in sequence, a highly ambitious manoever has not yet been tested. Nasa's Moon mission team received a further setback last month when its other partner, Blue Origin, watched its New Glenn rocket blow up during a routine engine test. No one was hurt, but the launch pad was extensively damaged. The fireball that engulfed Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket which exploded during a hot-fire engine test on 28 May A vast orange fireball erupts from the horizon at Cape Canaveral, photographed from across the water at night. The blast fills the upper two-thirds of the frame in churning, billowing clouds of incandescent gas — bright white at the heart of the fireball, fading through gold and amber to deep orange at the edges. A second, equally violent plume mushrooms upward at the centre, lifting smoke and debris into the sky. Blue Origin has no other way to launch New Glenn and it could take months to repair the damage. When SpaceX suffered an explosion in September 2016, it took 15 months to return to service - and SpaceX had other pads to fall back on. Blue Origin does not. The consequences are immediate: the Blue Moon cargo lander intended for a Moon flight possibly as early as this autumn may not be able to launch on schedule; the crewed lander needed for Artemis 4 faces an uncertain timeline; and there are questions over both lander pathfinders that Artemis 3 is supposed to test. On Nasa's most optimistic timeline, Artemis 3 flies in 2027 as a demonstration. Artemis 4 targets landing on the Moon in early 2028. Artemis 5, designed for a second landing and the start of base construction, follows later that year. John Couluris, a vice president at Blue Origin, said that Nasa and Blue Origin were working around the clock to be ready for launch in 2027. Most independent experts regard that timeline as ambitious. Large explosion engulfs a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket, with flames, debris trails, and thick smoke lighting up the sky. Exploding rocket casts doubts over Nasa's Moon plans Lunar base with astronauts growing food in glasshouses. The Earth hangs above in the blackness of space Artemis II mission was a triumph. Now comes the hard part Nasa has named the Artemis III crew - what is their mission? What drives the urgency is partly geopolitical. China has announced a target of a crewed Moon landing by 2030. A Trump executive order in December 2025 directed Nasa to return astronauts to the Moon by 2028, when his term of office comes to an end, and establish initial base elements by 2030. "It would not surprise me at all if China gets there first," Dr Simeon Barber, a lunar scientist at the Open University, told BBC News. Nasa's margin for error is thin. The refuelling technology for Starship has yet to be demonstrated. A key commercial partner no longer has a functioning launch pad. And the first lunar landing now depends on a sequence of things that have never been done before all going right in the right order. Nasa Administrator Jared Isaacman said after last month's explosion that the agency is "committed to helping the Blue team recover." The question now is how much time recovery will take, and whether the calendar can absorb it. The crew, who are all men, are scheduled to blast off in 2027 to test systems ahead of a planned Moon landing. Artemis III will help test crucial systems needed for the planned Artemis IV Moon landing in 2028. This occurrence of aurora australis, or Southern Lights, was captured by Nasa astronaut Jessica Meir. Beagle 2 reached the surface in 2003, but it was not known until 2015, a professor says. SpaceX is preparing for a stock market debut that could transform the company, the wider market and Elon Musk's fortune. Science correspondent Pallab Ghosh explains why the explosion is a setback for space exploration. Explosion of Blue Origin rocket is a setback for the company and for Nasa's Moon plans. Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, who founded Blue Origin, said it was a "very rough day".