NASA to reveal Artemis III crew for key orbital test mission — what's next

NASA on Tuesday will announce the four astronauts who will fly aboard Artemis III, a critical test flight that will rehearse complex rendezvous and docking operations with commercial lunar landers in low Earth orbit as the agency prepares to return humans to the Moon’s surface. 

The announcement, scheduled for 11:30 am EDT (7:30 pm Gulf Standard Time) at Johnson Space Center, comes the day after the agency’s official X account teased the news and invited the public to submit questions for the crew.

Artemis III is now positioned as an essential stepping-stone demonstration following the successful Artemis II lunar flyby in April 2026. 

Crewed Earth-orbit mission

Originally envisioned as the first crewed lunar landing in the Artemis program since Apollo 17 in 1972, Artemis III has been reconfigured into a crewed Earth-orbit mission to reduce technical risks.

The shift was announced earlier in 2026 to allow more time for development and testing of the commercial Human Landing Systems (HLS) being built by SpaceX (Starship HLS) and Blue Origin (Blue Moon). 

SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft

The four-person crew will launch aboard NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, targeted for late 2027.

In orbit, they will test rendezvous, docking, and undocking procedures with one or both commercial landers. These operations are vital because future Artemis missions will require Orion to meet landers in lunar orbit before astronauts descend to the surface. 

Artemis II, which flew four astronauts — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen — on a 10-day lunar flyby in April 2026, marked humanity’s return to cislunar space for the first time in more than 50 years.

Data from that flight, combined with the Artemis III docking tests, will inform the first planned lunar landing on Artemis IV, currently targeted for early 2028. 

The Artemis programme, a collaboration involving NASA, international partners like ESA, and U.S. commercial companies, aims to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon and serve as a proving ground for eventual Mars missions.

What’s next

• Tuesday’s Event: Expect names, backgrounds and initial comments from the selected astronauts, who will undergo intensive joint training for the complex orbital ballet. NASA will also provide a mission progress update.

• Mission Timeline: Launch window in late 2027. The crew will spend days in low Earth orbit practicing docking interfaces, life support systems, spacesuit operations and communication protocols.

• Path to Landing: Successful completion paves the way for Artemis IV, which will attempt the first crewed lunar landing of the modern era near the Moon’s South Pole.

• Subsequent Moon missions: Artemis III data will help buildup toward a lunar base and deeper space exploration.

The announcement caps months of anticipation and underscores NASA’s strategy of using incremental, lower-risk tests to maintain schedule momentum toward a 2028 landing goal.