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On June 9, 2026, NASA announced the crew of Artemis III: commander Randy Bresnik (NASA), pilot Luca Parmitano (ESA), mission specialist Frank Rubio (NASA), and mission specialist Andre Douglas (NASA).<\/p>\n
Randy Bresnik<\/strong> is a native of Santa Monica, California. He graduated with a bachelor\u2019s degree in mathematics from The Citadel Military College of South Carolina in 1989, followed by a master\u2019s in aviation systems from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in 2002. He served as a U.S. Air Force pilot, became a test pilot in 1999, and was selected by NASA as an astronaut in 2004. Bresnik served as Mission Specialist for the Space Shuttle mission STS-129 in 2008, then flew to the International Space Station in 2017 as flight engineer for Expedition 52 and as ISS commander for Expedition 53. Bresnik is one of two astronauts in history to have a child born while they were in space.\u00a0<\/p>\n Luca Parmitano\u00a0<\/strong>is a native of Catania, Italy. Parmitano earned a master\u2019s in political sciences at the University of Naples Federico II in 1999, then joined a joint U.S.-Europe NATO pilot training program, and later earned a second master\u2019s degree in experimental flight test engineering at the Institut Sup\u00e9rieur de l’A\u00e9ronautique et de l’Espace. The European Space Agency (ESA) selected Parmitano as an astronaut in 2009. He served as a flight engineer on ISS Expeditions 36 and 37 in 2013, as well as on ISS Expeditions 60 and 61 during 2018. Parmitano has an asteroid named after him. He was also the\u00a0first DJ in space.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n