Artemis III NASA announcement highlights : Luca Parmitano assigned as pilot
On 9 June, NASA announced the crew for the Artemis III mission, which includes ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano as pilot. ESA is also providing its third European Service Module for this crewed test flight in Earth orbit, which will be key for the mission’s objective to test rendezvous and docking capabilities ahead of future lunar landing missions. Along with Luca, three NASA astronauts will fly on this mission: commander Randy Bresnik and lander specialists Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas. The crew now begins a rigorous training schedule to learn the Orion spacecraft systems, as well as the operations of the human landing systems, to prepare for an ambitious series of demonstrations ahead of a Moon landing mission.
Published by ESA on 06/09/2026