Here’s the crew of Artemis III. The first European is the Italian who almost drowned in space

Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano will be the pilot of NASA’s Artemis III mission, becoming the first European to join one of the program’s missions, the North American space agency announced this Tuesday.

NASA presented this Tuesday, in , the four-member international crew of the next Artemis mission, which should take place next year.

The Artemis II mission is a fundamental test flight ahead of a crewed mission to the lunar surface, which the agency describes as “a of the most complex missions ever undertaken by NASA.”

Although it is essential for future missions to the MoonArtemis III will be closer to Earth, in low earth orbit. The mission will test the capabilities of the Orion spacecraft to rendezvous and docking with two lunar modules commercially designed and built.

The mission will be commanded by NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik. Former member of the United States Marine Corps, he has already completed two missions in space, and spent 149 days away from Earth.

O mission pilot will be the Italian Luca Parmitanoastronaut from the European space agency ESA and the first European to join one of the missions of the Artemis program.

Parmitano has also been to space twice, including on a dangerous spacewalk that had to be stopped when , after his helmet filled with water.

During his second spacewalk, the Italian astronaut felt water running down his face, and knew he was just moments away from drowning inside the helmet.

Parmitano didn’t panic. He stayed true to the basic principles of his training. Since I couldn’t see, grabbed the safety cableae guided by touch, advancing from catch to catch along the outer structure of the station for seven slow, endless and harrowing minutes.

The crew of Artemis III also has Frank Rubio e Andre DouglasNASA astronauts, who will be mission specialists.

Rubio served in the United States Army. AND family doctor certificate and flight surgeonand has already flown into space once, to the International Space Station, aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule.

After engineers detected damage to the ship, Rubio’s stay on the ISS was prolonged while waiting for a new means of returnhaving established that carried out by an American, with 371 days.

This will be first space trip Douglas. A Coast Guard reserve officer, he was selected as a 2021 NASA astronaut. He is a systems engineer and has a PhD from George Washington University. Douglas joined the reserve crew of Artemis II.

“This mission is going to be fantastic“, said Douglas this Tuesday, during the crew’s presentation at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, in Houston, Texas. “What an excellent crew. Come on, Artemis! Go, NASA!”

Critical flight test

Artemis III is a crucial missionat a time when NASA is testing essential components of the equipment that will allow it to take human beings setting foot on Lusapossibly as early as 2028, and for the first time since 1972, recalls .

To achieve this, the agency depends on landing vehicles designed and developed by two private companies that have led the space adventure in recent years: SpaceXElon Musk, etc Blue Originby Jeff Bezos.

Artemis III will test the ability of Orion manned capsule to meet and couple to these modulesnot in the vicinity of the Moon, but in low Earth orbit.

“This gives our teams fundamental information about systems that the lunar module crew will depend on, in an environment close to home, rather than more than four days away in lunar orbit,” he said Jeremy Parsonsand NASA.

The mission begins with the unmanned launch of the Blue Moon modulefrom Blue Origin, which can remain in orbit for 90 days.

This period will give NASA time to launch the crew in the Orion space capsule, at the top of the SLS super rocket of the North American space agency, from the Kennedy Space Center, in Florida. After launch, the crew will pilot the Orion spacecraft, reach the module and dock with it.

Orion will remain coupled to Blue Moon for about two daysduring which the crew will open the hatch and test essential elements of the module, such as the life support and control systemsbefore decoupling.

A SpaceX will then launch its Starship into low Earth orbit. Orion and the Artemis III crew will dock with this module, remaining connected to the ship for about a day. Then, Orion and the crew will return to Earth, docking in the Pacific Ocean, off California.