9.06.2026

It's a long list, but there are some front runners.

(Image credit: NASA

NASA is about to reveal the astronauts who will launch to space on the Artemis 3 mission.

Speculation about who will be in that four-person crew has been high since the return of the Artemis 2 mission, which flew four astronauts around the moon in April. At the time, NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya said the announcement of the Artemis 3 crew would come "soon," but he didn't specify a target date.

We have one now: The announcement is scheduled for June 9. Until then, we can make some educated guesses that point to some likely, and also some unlikely, candidates for this very high-profile mission. And the picks might not necessarily all come from the group of 18 astronauts that make up the original Artemis cadre announced in 2020. Here's a look at which astronauts are eligible, and which are probably not up for consideration.

Before we dive into the full list, however, we can whittle it down some by ruling out those least likely to be up for a spot on Artemis 3. NASA is targeting mid- to late 2027 for Artemis 3, so timing and crew schedules aboard the International Space Station (ISS) play a big part in who will be available for the training leading up to the mission. Technical specialties and backgrounds may also have a hand in deciding who is chosen for Artemis 3, which differs significantly in its objectives compared to Artemis 2.

Artemis 2 launched NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as the Canadian Space Agency's (CSA) Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day mission aboard an Orion capsule, which flew a single figure-eight loop around the far side of the moon and back to Earth. The mission was Orion's first test flight with astronauts aboard. Now that it's proven that capability, the crew of Artemis 3 will be tasked with a very different mission.

Artemis 3 won't fly to the moon. Instead, it will launch Orion into low Earth orbit (LEO), where the crewmates will practice rendezvous and docking maneuvers with one or two privately developed lunar lander vehicles. Artemis 3 astronauts will also have the opportunity, to some extent, to test new extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits designed for missions to the lunar surface. So NASA will most likely be looking for astronauts with experience piloting new or unproven vehicles, and at least one or two candidates who've completed a spacewalk.

NASA has contracted SpaceX's Starship and Blue Origin's Blue Moon spacecraft as Human Landing System (HLS) landers to deliver astronauts to the surface of the moon on the first several Artemis missions to the lunar surface. But the agency hasn't yet decided which of them will be awarded the program's first crewed landing, which is scheduled to take place in late 2028 on Artemis 4.

That decision will largely depend on the outcome of Artemis 3. Both landers have faced development delays, and NASA has indicated a willingness to fly Artemis 3 with either or both vehicles, should one of them not be ready to launch in time. And there's already a big risk of that — one of Blue Origin's New Glenn rockets, the launch vehicle for Blue Moon, recently exploded on the pad during an engine test.

In any case, the goals of Artemis 3 are much more focused on things like spacecraft piloting and operations than they are on lunar exploration, which is definitely something NASA will have kept in mind when deciding its crew.

Because they just flew on Artemis 2, it's unlikely Wiseman, Glover, Koch or Hansen will be up for consideration for the upcoming mission. Historically, NASA does not schedule astronauts for back-to-back flights. With that in mind, some of the Artemis cadre currently aboard the ISS and those scheduled to launch to the station in the coming months can probably be ruled out as well. That includes original NASA Artemis cadre astronauts Jessica Meir, currently in space, and Jessica Watkins, who is scheduled to launch to the station as commander of SpaceX Crew-13 sometime in late summer or early fall. NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway and Chris Williams are also currently aboard the ISS, and spaceflight rookie Luke Delaney is launching on Crew-13 as well, and can all likely be ruled out.

Quelle: SC