Who will participate in NASA's new Moon mission?

NASA has announced the names of the four astronauts who will participate in the Artemis III lunar mission. At an event held at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, it was revealed that American astronauts Andre Douglas, Frank Rubio, and Randy Bresnik, as well as Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano, have been selected for the mission.

Previously, the European Space Agency had indicated that the first European astronaut to participate in this mission might be German. However, in the final selection, Luca Parmitano, who has experience as a test pilot, was preferred.

Initially, it was planned to land humans on the Moon as part of Artemis III. However, NASA announced in 2026 that the mission concept had changed. According to the new plan, the crew will remain in low Earth orbit and perform docking maneuvers with lunar landing modules being developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin.

While the Artemis III mission is scheduled for 2027, NASA's next crewed landing on the Moon has been postponed to 2028.

For reference, in April of this year, the Artemis II crew returned to Earth successfully, and the Orion spacecraft set a new record by traveling 407,000 kilometers away from Earth.