NASA announced this Tuesday (9) the crew of the Artemis III Mission. Randy Bresnik, Luca Parmitano, Andre Douglas and Frank Rubio will make up the team on the next expedition. Bob Hines is the reserve astronaut for the space trip.
The Artemis III mission is scheduled for 2027. SLS moon rocket will launch crew aboard Orion spacecraft towards low Earth orbit. The purpose of the expedition is test rendezvous and docking operations with landing modules in development by SpaceX and Blue Origin, space companies owned by Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, respectively.
Who are the astronauts of the Artemis III Mission?
Randy Bresnik
Commander from the Artemis III Mission, Randy Bresnik has a degree in mathematics from The Citadel. Born in California, United States, he is a retired colonel in the US Marine Corps. He also has accumulated more than 7,000 flight hours in 95 types of aircraft and is a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.
Bresnik joined NASA in the 2004 astronaut candidate class. The expedition to the Moon will be his third space mission. Since 2018, he has been assistant to the head of Office of Astronauts for Explorationwhere oversees the development and testing of the spacecraft and systems that operate during Artemis program expeditions.
Luca Parmitano
Member of the European Space Agency, Luca Parmitano is the first astronaut of the organization to integrate the Artemis program. He will be expedition pilot which will test the lander. This will be his third flight into space.
Since 2009 at the European Space Agency, he has a degree in political science from the University of Naples Federico II. He has a master’s degree in experimental flight test engineering from the Higher Institute of Aeronautics and Space in Toulouse, France. He became a test pilot in 2007 at the Italian Air Force Academy. He has also accumulated more than 2,000 flight hours in 40 types of aircraft.
Andre Douglas
Born in Virginia, in the United States, Andre Douglas joined NASA in the 2021 class of astronaut candidates. He was a member of the reserve crew of the Artemis II Mission. He has a degree in mechanical engineering from the North American Coast Guard Academy and a doctorate in systems engineering from George Washington University.
Frank Rubio
The Artemis III Mission will be Frank Rubio’s second expedition into space. He joined NASA in the 2017 astronaut candidate class. He is originally from Florida, in the United States. He graduated from the US Military Academy in 1998. He holds a doctorate in medicine from the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences. He served in the Army for more than 28 years in the positions of aviator, astronaut and doctor.
Artemis Program
The Artemis program brings together components from other NASA projects that have been cancelled. Established in 2017, the aim of the project is explore the Moon in order to consolidate the bases for manned missions to Mars. To do this, it is necessary build travel infrastructure to the natural satellite, deactivated with the end of the with technology, security and structure different from the previous era of expeditions.
On November 16, 2022, NASA launched the Artemis I Mission. The trip consisted of a flight test of the unmanned Orion spacecraft beyond the Moon.
The Artemis II Mission flew over the natural satellite and . Furthermore, the expedition aimed to verify that the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft were in perfect condition operational, in the hope of pave the way for a return and landing on the Moon in 2028 by Artemis IV Mission.
The program suffers, which accelerated the pace of the project. Therefore, it was stipulated the goal for astronauts to set foot on the lunar surface before 2029when the Republican’s term ends.
