NASA on Tuesday named four prime crew members and one backup for Artemis III, setting the lineup for a 2027 mission that will send Orion into low Earth orbit for a series of demanding tests. The flight is not the lunar landing itself; it is the run that NASA says must come first.
The crew will begin training immediately on Orion spacecraft systems, and Bob Hines was named as the backup crew member. NASA said the astronauts will help develop and operate test versions of the Blue Origin and SpaceX landers as Orion practices rendezvous and docking in orbit, work meant to prove the interfaces, software, propulsion and communications that have to function together before the program can move on.
That matters because Artemis III is a setup mission for Artemis IV, which NASA plans as the first crewed flight to the lunar South Pole in 2028. During Artemis III, NASA’s SLS rocket will launch Orion and its crew from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, then use the mission to test integrated hardware between the spacecraft and the landers. Engineers are scheduled to connect the Orion crew module and service module this summer, another step in the build-up to the 2027 flight.
The crew announcement also marks the first time an ESA astronaut has been assigned to an Artemis mission. ESA said Luca’s assignment as pilot reflects its experience in human spaceflight, while the agency’s European Service Module will again supply the capabilities that power Orion. ESA chief Josef Aschbacher said the mission will push spacecraft operations in orbit and recognized Europe’s role in the program.
Artemis III is being presented as a test flight in Earth orbit, and that is the point. NASA is asking the new crew to help prove the systems, partners and procedures that must work together before anyone heads toward the lunar South Pole. If the timeline holds, the next major step is the summer integration work, followed by immediate training for the astronauts named on Tuesday.
