Luca Parmitano named pilot for NASA's Artemis III, the mission that will test lunar return technologies in Earth orbit

The crew announcement

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced the Artemis III crew at the Johnson Space Center in Houston on 9 June 2026. Luca Parmitano, a 50-year-old Italian astronaut with the European Space Agency, was named pilot. He will fly alongside commander Randy Bresnik and mission specialists Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas, all NASA veterans. Parmitano is the only non-US crew member and the first European assigned to an Artemis mission.

Artemis III will demonstrate the strength of American innovation and international cooperation as we test complex rendezvous and docking operations and advance the technologies that will one day take us even farther into the Solar System.

Mission profile

Artemis III is scheduled for the second half of 2027. Unlike earlier Artemis flights, it will not land on the lunar surface. The mission was redesigned after a NASA programme review to test rendezvous and docking technologies in Earth orbit between the Orion capsule and one or two vehicles built by SpaceX and Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin. The crew will also trial new spacesuits developed by Axiom Space, with design input from Italian fashion house Prada.

Parmitano's reaction

Visibly moved during the presentation, Parmitano apologised in advance for his emotion. He described the assignment as a dream mission for a test pilot and stressed the responsibility of helping develop procedures for future crews.

I am honoured by the role entrusted to me. I am also deeply aware of the challenge that awaits us.

He framed his career as a launch sequence: Italy was his launchpad, providing education and professional tools through the Italian Air Force and the Italian Space Agency. ESA was the launch tower that built relationships and connections, and NASA was the rocket that carried him into the crew. He closed his remarks with a thank-you in Italian and a tribute to his daughters, calling them "the energy for my soul."

European and Italian reaction

ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher addressed Parmitano directly in Italian, saying the agency was proud of him. He noted that the pilot assignment reflects the depth of European expertise in human spaceflight and builds on Parmitano's extensive operational experience in high-pressure environments. Italy's Minister of Enterprises and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, said the role confirms Italy's leading position in the scientific, technological and industrial challenge of returning humans to the Moon. ASI president Teodoro Valente called the selection the culmination of a long-prepared path that will see Italian astronauts on future Artemis missions.

Dear Luca, we are proud of you. Have a good flight!

Parmitano's background

Born in Paternò, Sicily, on 27 September 1976 and raised in Catania, Parmitano holds a degree in political science from the University of Naples Federico II and a master's in experimental flight test engineering from ISAE in Toulouse. He graduated from the Italian Air Force Academy, became a test pilot in 2007, and was promoted to colonel in 2019. He has logged over 2,000 flight hours on more than 40 aircraft types.

Selected by ESA in 2009, he first flew to the International Space Station in 2013 on the Volare mission, spending 166 days in orbit and conducting two spacewalks. His second mission, Beyond, launched in 2019 and lasted 201 days. During Expedition 61 he became the first Italian and third European to command the ISS, performing four complex spacewalks to repair the AMS-02 spectrometer. Across his career he has accumulated 366 days in space and six EVAs totalling 33 hours and 9 minutes. He has supported over 250 experiments, participated in the first DJ session from space, and sent a message to world leaders during COP25.

The road ahead

Artemis III represents a pivotal engineering step in the Artemis programme. By validating orbital docking with commercially built vehicles and testing next-generation spacesuits, the mission aims to retire risk before a crewed lunar landing attempt. Parmitano learned of his selection while on a train. He said he was so incredulous that he asked his superior to repeat the words: "Luca, you have been assigned as pilot to the mission."