WASHINGTON, June 9 : NASA on Tuesday named three U.S. astronauts and an Italian astronaut to serve as the crew for its next Artemis mission, a spacecraft docking demonstration in Earth's orbit next year that will test landers from Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin for the first time in space.NASA

The Artemis 3 crew poses for an official portrait. From left to right: Andre Douglas, Luca Parmitano, Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio. Image: NASA/Bill Stafford.

NASA names the crew for 2027’s Artemis III Earth orbit mission testing Orion docking with Blue Origin and SpaceX landers ahead of future moon landing missions.

NASA’s Artemis III crew includes three NASA astronauts and one European Space Agency astronaut

It'll be a key test flight before landing on the Moon.

The next mission won’t involve a moonshot