NASA has tapped Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano to pilot the Artemis III mission, making him the first European to be a part of the US space agency's key human spaceflight campaign.
On Tuesday, NASA chief Jared Isaacman unveiled a four-member crew and a backup for the 2027 flight that will test new lunar landers — not on the moon as originally planned, but closer to home in Earth's orbit.
The Artemis III crew
NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik has been picked as the mission commander, with Andre Douglas and Frank Rubio serving as mission specialists.
The three US astronauts and the European Space Agency's (ESA) Parmitano will orbit Earth while practicing docking their Orion capsule with two moon landers.
