Artemis 3 crew members NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, commander; ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano, pilot; and NASA astronauts Frank Rubio, mission specialist, and Andre Douglas, mission specialist, are seen during the Artemis 3 crew announcement event, Tuesday, June 9, 2026, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Image: NASA/John Kraus
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, responding to questions about the agency’s selection of an all-male crew for the Artemis 3 mission, said the astronauts were chosen based solely on their experience, skill sets and availability.
Isaacman wrote on the social media platform X that “I have seen reactions ranging from disappointment to outrage.” One such response on Reddit called the crew announcement “massively upsetting.”
“Women represent 50 percent of the population,” the post read. “They deserve at least one seat on every mission from a government run agency.”
But Isaacman strongly defended the crew selection, saying he had “personally been to space twice with 50 percent female crews. My closest advisors and some of the smartest engineers I know are women. In our latest NASA leadership organization, nearly 50 percent of the center directors and mission directorate leadership are women.
