(L/R) NASA astronaut commander Randy Bresnik, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut pilot Luca Parmitano, NASA astronaut mission specialist Frank Rubio, and NASA astronaut mission specialist Andre Douglas speak during a press conference announcing the crew for the Artemis III mission at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, on June 9, 2026. —Ronaldo Schemidt—AFP/Getty ImagesNASA revealed on Tuesday the four astronauts who will make up the crew of Artemis III.The four crew members are all men, three of whom are American and one who is Italian: commander Randy Bresnik, pilot Luca Parmitano, mission specialist Andre Douglas, and mission specialist Frank Rubio. The backup crew member, Bob Hines, is also American.NASA officials also shared new details about the Artemis III mission during an event on Tuesday, including the role the Blue Origin lander will play in the lunar mission. While NASA and Blue Origin officials acknowledged the recent New Glenn rocket explosion that damaged Blue Origin’s launchpad, they expressed optimism about the upcoming mission, which is scheduled to take place in 2027.“While we recognize there are questions about how Blue Origin’s recent anomaly impacts our plans, setbacks are a learning opportunity,” Jeremy Parsons, the Acting Assistant Deputy Associate Administrator for the Moon to Mars Program Office at NASA, said during Tuesday’s event. “We are confident that New Glenn will be ready for Artemis III, together with Blue Origin.”Here’s what to know about the Artemis III crew members and the moon mission.Randy BresnikBresnik will be the commander of the Artemis III mission. Bresnik, a retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel, was selected as an astronaut in 2004, according to NASA. He was previously the commander of the International Space Station for Expedition 53 in 2017. Over the course of his career, he has logged more than 7,000 hours in nearly a hundred types of aircrafts, rotorcrafts, and gliders, as well as 3,600 hours in spacecrafts.“We are certainly humbled as a crew to be able to be your crew that executes this Artemis III mission in space,” Bresnik said on Tuesday, “being that unifying link between the phenomenal Artemis II mission we just had two months ago and the Artemis IV mission that will follow ours, where we will again be the first to land humans on another celestial body—that celestial body being our neighbor in the sky at night, the moon.”Luca ParmitanoParmitano, a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut, will be the pilot of the Artemis III mission. Parmitano, who was born in Italy, was selected as an ESA astronaut in 2009, according to ESA. He was a colonel in the Italian Air Force and, over the course of his career, he has accumulated more than 2,000 hours of flying and has operated more than 40 kinds of aircrafts.“I’m honored by the role that I’ve been given,” he said. “I’m also very humbled by the task in front of us. But first and foremost, I’m grateful. There are many parts that need to come together for a space launch and you need a launchpad. And for me, that launchpad is my country, Italy.”“The European Space Agency is like a launch tower connecting these two worlds, building bridges,” he continued. “The rocket, figuratively and literally, is NASA. I am grateful that NASA has allowed me to be part of this incredible group of people, of this crew, and for letting me fly.”Andre DouglasDouglas will be one of the two mission specialists on the Artemis III mission. Chosen by NASA to be part of the 2021 astronaut candidate class, Douglas ultimately reported for duty in 2022, according to the space agency. He also held various roles in the U.S. Coast Guard, including as a naval architect, salvage engineer, and damage control assistant.Douglas was a backup crew member for the Artemis II test flight, and trained alongside the four astronauts who embarked on that mission. The Artemis III mission will be Douglas’ first space flight.“Wow, what an amazing day it is today,” he said on Tuesday. “My brain, it is going a mile a minute right now. But my heart—my heart, it is so warm, it is so full.”Frank RubioRubio will be the other mission specialist on the Artemis III mission. Rubio, who is a family medicine physician and a U.S. Army colonel, was chosen by NASA to be part of the 2017 astronaut candidate class and reported for duty that year, according to the space agency. Rubio broke the record for the longest continuous spaceflight by an American astronaut, after launching for a mission on Sept. 21, 2022 and then returning to Earth on Sept. 27, 2023—a duration of 371 days. His trip back to Earth was delayed by six months as a result of a coolant leak on the spacecraft that he was initially meant to return in.“What an incredible blessing and an honor it is to be standing here representing all of you,” Rubio said on Tuesday.Bob HinesHines was named as a backup crew member to the Artemis III mission, and will train alongside Bresnik, Rubio, Douglas, and Parmitano. He was chosen by NASA to be part of the 2017 astronaut candidate class, according to the space agency. He served in the U.S. Air Force for more than two decades. He was previously the pilot on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission to the International Space Station, which ended in October 2022.What will the Artemis III moon mission do?The Artemis III mission will involve launching the Blue Origin lander first, and then an Orion capsule, launched aboard NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, which will contain the crew. The Orion and Blue Origin lander will rendezvous in space, and be docked together for about two days. Then the Orion capsule will detach from the Blue Origin lander and will dock with Space X’s Starship for about a day, before the crew begins preparations to return home, Parsons said. In total, Parsons said NASA expects the mission to last about two weeks.The mission will not involve the crew landing on the moon; rather, “this mission is deliberately designed to take calculated risk so that future crews will be safer and ultimately successful when we put boots on the lunar surface,” Parsons said. NASA has said that it plans to bring humans back to the moon’s surface in 2028 with the Artemis IV and V missions.