By Micah Maidenberg

NASA has chosen a new slate of astronauts for its next Artemis mission, which aims to test the craft that will eventually return the U.S. to the lunar surface.

Artemis III will be led by mission commander Randy Bresnik, a retired Marine Corps colonel who became a NASA astronaut in 2004, officials said Tuesday at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

He will be joined by NASA's Andre Douglas, who served in Coast Guard as a naval architect, and Frank Rubio, an experienced astronaut who once spent more than a year aboard the International Space Station. Luca Parmitano, representing the European Space Agency, will round out the group.

Artemis III won't send the crew out to the moon, as this year's Artemis II flight did. Instead, it aims to test out hardware and vehicles that NASA intends to use for an eventual moon landing.

The agency intends to mount the Artemis III mission next year despite a rocket explosion that wrecked Blue Origin's launchpad in Florida. The space company, owned by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, plays a key role in Artemis, as NASA calls its flagship exploration effort.

Naming the crew allows the astronauts to focus training on specific elements of the flight, planned to unfold over roughly two weeks in low-Earth orbit.

Write to Micah Maidenberg at micah.maidenberg@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 09, 2026 12:55 ET (16:55 GMT)

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