Artemis III: NASA reveals mission crew scheduled for 2027

NASA announced, this Tuesday (9), the astronauts chosen for the Artemis III mission, considered one of the most complex operations of the new era of lunar exploration.

Andre Douglas, Colonel Frank Rubio, Luca Parmitano and Randy Bresnik are the names of Artemis III. The crew was revealed during a press conference directly from the NASA Johnson Space Center, in Houston, Texas.

The Artemis III mission is part of the program created by NASA to expand the human presence on the Moon and develop technologies for future manned trips to Mars.

Randy Bresnik is the commander of Artemis III, Luca Parmitano, the Italian astronaut, is the pilot. Andre Douglas and Colonel Frank Rubio are the mission specialists.

Astronaut Bob Heinz was also announced as part of the reserve crew.

Artemis III is expected to take place between mid and late 2027 and will be a key mission before Artemis IV, responsible for the broader return of human operations to the Moon.

The mission must test rendezvous and docking capabilities with commercial landers in low Earth orbit, a step considered fundamental for future lunar operations of the Artemis program.

NASA considers the Artemis program as part of the Golden Age of innovation and exploration, targeting increasingly complex exploration missions to the Moon, seeking scientific discoveries, economic benefits, establishing a human presence on the lunar surface and building bases for the first missions to Mars.

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Next mission: Artemis III
After completing the Artemis II flight, teams at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are moving on to the next part of the mission.

Next year's Artemis III mission will launch astronauts into Earth orbit aboard the Orion spacecraft, which will be atop the SLS, to test the rendezvous and docking capabilities between Orion and commercial spacecraft needed to land Artemis IV astronauts on the Moon in 2028.

Standing 64.6 meters tall when fully assembled, the core stage houses two propellant tanks that together store more than 2,800,000 liters of super-cooled liquid propellant to power four RS-25 engines, as well as the flight computers, or avionics, that act as the brains of the rocket to control flight during ascent.

This is the first time that core stage assembly operations are being performed at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

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Remember Artemis II
The historic NASA mission that marked man's return to lunar orbit came to an end on the night of Friday, April 10. The four astronauts aboard the Orion capsule returned to Earth in a landing in the ocean at 9:07 pm Brasília time.

Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen were the crew of the mission, which set the record for the longest distance traveled by humans in space, as well as having the opportunity to observe the far side of the Moon.

Lasting ten days, Artemis II followed a "figure eight" shaped trajectory, skirting the far side of the Moon. After two initial orbits around the Earth, the ship was propelled towards the natural satellite in a free return trajectory, in which lunar gravity ensured the path back without the need for complex maneuvers.

At the point of closest approach, astronauts will be able to observe the Moon at an apparent size similar to that of a basketball seen at arm's length. The mission did not land on the lunar surface.

The main objective was to test, for the first time with humans on board, the Orion spacecraft systems, such as life support, navigation, communication and the performance of the heat shield during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.

*Under the supervision of Carolina Figueiredo

Source: CNN