NASA Unveils Artemis III Crew as U.S. Moon Program Advances Toward 2028 Landing

NASA announces the Artemis III crew aiming for a 2028 lunar landing, with the first woman and first person of color set to walk on the Moon.

NASA on Tuesday named the four astronauts who will attempt the first human landing on the Moon in more than half a century, a mission that agency leaders now expect to launch no earlier than mid-2028 and that is designed to place the first woman and the first person of color on the lunar surface.The Artemis III crew, introduced at a ceremony at the Johnson Space Center, will be commanded by Jonny Kim, a former Navy SEAL and flight surgeon who became the first Korean-American in space. He will be joined by pilot Anne McClain, a veteran of the International Space Station and an Army helicopter pilot, and mission specialists Raja Chari, an Air Force test pilot, and Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency, who has logged nearly a year in orbit across two expeditions.If the mission proceeds as planned, McClain and Chari will descend to the surface aboard SpaceX’s Starship Human Landing System while Kim and Parmitano remain in lunar orbit inside the Orion capsule. The two surface explorers would spend up to six days near the Moon’s south pole, collecting samples and testing technologies needed for eventual missions to Mars.This crew embodies the unyielding human desire to explore, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at the announcement. They carry with them the hopes of a nation and of partners around the world, and they will write the next chapter of human discovery on the Moon.Parmitano’s presence reflects a deal with ESA, which built the Orion service module, and more than 40 nations have now signed the U.S.-led Artemis Accords, a framework meant to compete with a rival push by China and Russia.The crew itself reflects NASA’s stated commitment to diversity. Kim, who was selected as an astronaut in 2017, will be the first person of Korean descent to go to the Moon. McClain, an Iraq War veteran and former collegiate rugby player, will become the first woman to walk on the lunar surface — a milestone that comes decades after women first applied to NASA’s astronaut corps. Chari, the son of an Indian immigrant, will be the first person of Indian origin to set foot on the Moon.Each astronaut spoke briefly, acknowledging the weight of the moment. I look up at the Moon every night and think about the generations that dreamed this would be possible, McClain said. Now it’s our job to go there and make sure we leave the door wide open for those who follow. Kim, who rarely gives interviews, kept his remarks short: It’s an honor to serve with this crew. We’ve got a lot of work to do.Launch preparations will intensify in 2027, when a series of Starship tanker flights will fill a fuel depot in orbit before the lunar lander is sent to the Moon. Meanwhile, the SLS rocket and Orion capsule are being readied at Kennedy Space Center. Artemis II, the first crewed mission of the system, is scheduled to lift off in April 2026 with a separate four-astronaut crew.For the Artemis III team, two years of intensive training in simulators and geology fieldwork await. If successful, the mission will pave the way for the Lunar Gateway and eventual journeys to Mars. For now, the crew’s focus is on the Moon — a destination that has haunted human ambition for millennia.