NASA to Reveal Artemis III Crew for 2027 Earth-Orbit Lander Test
The agency will name the astronauts during an 11 a.m. ET broadcast from the Johnson Space Center. The mission will test commercial lunar landers in Earth orbit no earlier than late 2027.
app.buzzsumo.comM. ET on Tuesday, June 9, from the Johnson Space Center in Houston. The crew will travel to Earth orbit in 2027 to test one or both commercial human lunar landers developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin.
The announcement will stream live on NASA+ and NASA’s YouTube channel. Artemis III will launch the astronauts from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard the Orion spacecraft on the SLS rocket. The mission will test rendezvous and docking between Orion and the commercial Human Landing Systems from SpaceX and Blue Origin.
The Human Landing System will take astronauts to the lunar surface. For future Artemis missions, the lander will also function as living quarters while astronauts collect samples, conduct experiments and test new technologies on the moon.
Future Artemis missions will send the uncrewed lander to lunar orbit to await astronauts. Artemis missions are focused on expanding knowledge of and establishing a long-term human presence on and around the lunar surface. The program began with Artemis I, an uncrewed test flight of the Orion spacecraft around the moon in 2022.
Artemis II sent four astronauts around the moon earlier in 2026 without landing. The Artemis II crew consisted of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. The Artemis II crew was announced in April 2023.
The Artemis III crew will be selected from NASA’s active astronaut corps and will consist of two mission specialists, a pilot and a commander. NASA will announce specifics on the Artemis III mission design and crew closer to launch. The mission will launch no earlier than late 2027.
