ESA astronaut assignment on Artemis 3 part of negotiations on revised Artemis roles

ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano will be the pilot of the Artemis 3 mission. Credit: NASA/Morgan Gridley

WASHINGTON — The assignment of a European Space Agency astronaut to the Artemis 3 mission is part of negotiations ESA is undertaking for revised roles in the overall effort, with a goal of getting European astronauts on the lunar surface.

At a June 9 event in Houston, NASA announced the crew of the Artemis 3 mission, a mid-2027 test flight in low Earth orbit in which the Orion spacecraft will attempt to dock with lunar lander prototypes built by Blue Origin and SpaceX. That crew includes ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano as pilot.

ESA had earlier secured three seats on Artemis missions to the lunar Gateway through its planned contributions to the program. At the ESA ministerial conference last November, ESA announced those seats would go to astronauts from France, Germany and Italy, with Germany getting the first flight.

However, NASA’s announcement at the Ignition event in March that it would no longer pursue development of the Gateway upended those plans, including what ESA might instead provide for NASA’s new lunar base initiative.