NASA has presented the crew of the Artemis III mission, scheduled for launch at the end of next year. Although the astronauts will not land on the Moon, they will practice one of the key stages of future lunar expeditions — the docking of spacecraft in orbit.
NASA has announced the crew of the Artemis III mission, which will be another step in the ambitious program to return humans to the Moon.
The crew includes astronauts Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio, and Andre Douglas, as well as European Space Agency representative Luca Parmitano. For Parmitano, participation in the mission will be a historic event — he will be the first European involved in the Artemis program.
During the flight, the crew will not land on the Moon. The main task will be to practice the docking of the Orion spacecraft with two lunar landers in low Earth orbit.
Although such a mission may seem less spectacular, these types of tests are considered a necessary stage in preparing for future crewed expeditions to the Moon.
The Artemis program remains one of the largest space projects of modern times. Its long-term goal is not just to land humans on the surface of the Moon, but to create a permanent infrastructure for long-term human presence beyond Earth. The Artemis II mission, which flew around the Moon in April and set a new record for the distance of a crewed space flight, has given additional momentum to the program.
According to current plans, the first landing of astronauts as part of the new lunar program could take place as early as 2028. Before that, robotic spacecraft and equipment for the future base must be delivered to the Moon's surface.
To implement the project, NASA has engaged a number of private companies. They will handle cargo delivery, the creation of robotic systems, and the preparation of infrastructure in the vicinity of the Moon's south pole.
In the first phase, it is planned to deploy equipment and conduct research work. Then, the establishment of permanent infrastructure, including power supply systems, is planned. In the long term, the base should evolve into a complex capable of supporting long-term astronaut habitation.
In March, NASA announced its intention to allocate about $20 billion for the lunar base project while simultaneously abandoning the construction of the Gateway orbital station around the Moon.
At the same time, the timeline of the program largely depends on the development of a new spacecraft for delivering crews to the Moon's surface. This project is being developed by the private company SpaceX; however, its implementation is accompanied by technical challenges and delays.
Despite the existing problems, the Artemis program remains humanity's main step towards returning to the Moon for the first time since the Apollo missions and serves as a foundation for future flights to Mars.
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