NASA has announced the four astronauts selected for the crew of the upcoming Artemis III mission, part of the agency's Artemis moon initiative.
The crew members, all male, consist of three NASA astronauts and one Italian astronaut from the European Space Agency, with the exception of one who has not previously traveled to space.
Scheduled for 2027, Artemis III will be the third mission within NASA's new lunar initiative and the second to include a crew.
The main goal of Artemis III is for astronauts on NASA's Orion spacecraft to rendezvous and dock in low-Earth orbit with commercial lunar landers being developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin.
The crew includes Commander Randy Bresnik, Pilot Luca Parmitano, Mission Specialist Andre Douglas, and Mission Specialist Frank Rubio, with astronaut Bob Hines serving as a backup crew member.
