Close to the Moon: the Artemis III mission, with Luca Parmitano
4 July 2026
There is a photograph that was seen around the world on 9 June 2026: four astronauts in spacesuits, posing officially for NASA’s camera. From left to right: Andre Douglas, Luca Parmitano, Randy Bresnik and Frank Rubio. They are the crew of Artemis III, the space mission that in 2027 will take one of the most important steps in the history of human space exploration. The last time a human being set foot on the Moon was in December 1972. It was the Apollo 17 mission, and astronaut Gene Cernan was the last man to leave his footprints on the lunar surface. Since then, for more than fifty years, the Moon has looked on at Earth from afar, without visitors.
Then came NASA’s Artemis programme. The name is no coincidence: in Greek mythology, Artemis is Apollo’s twin sister, the goddess of the Moon. The programme aims to return humans to Earth’s satellite, this time to stay: to build permanent bases, conduct scientific experiments and prepare for even more ambitious missions to Mars. The programme’s first missions have already made history. Artemis I, in 2022, flew the uncrewed Orion capsule around the Moon. Artemis II, completed in April 2026, carried astronauts around the Moon for the first time in decades; it did not land, but came within just a few dozen kilometres of the surface. And now, in 2027, it is Artemis III’s turn: the mission that will lay the groundwork for Artemis IV, the first human landing at the lunar South Pole, planned for 2028. Artemis III will not land on the Moon: it is a test mission in Earth orbit, but the technical challenges it will face are colossal. The SLS rocket, the Space Launch System, the most powerful ever built, will launch the Orion capsule with its crew of four astronauts from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Once in orbit, the four will have to do something that has never been done before: dock their capsule with prototypes of lunar landers, the spacecraft that will carry astronauts to the surface of the Moon. Not one, but two different landers: one developed by Blue Origin and one by SpaceX, the famous Starship. The crew will have to dock with the vehicles, test the systems, verify the software, go on board, then undock and return. A space choreography of unprecedented complexity. The mission will last about two weeks, at the end of which Orion will splash down in the Pacific Ocean, where the United States Navy will recover the crew.
Luca Parmitano was born in Paternò, in the province of Catania, Sicily, in 1976. Raised with the dream of space, he followed a long and rigorous path to get there. He graduated in political science from the Federico II University of Naples, an unusual choice for a future astronaut, and then obtained a master’s degree in experimental flight engineering from the Institut Supérieur de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace in Toulouse, France, one of the most prestigious aeronautics schools in the world. In the meantime, he pursued a military career in the Italian Air Force, becoming a test pilot in 2007. He became a colonel in 2019. He has flown more than 40 different types of aircraft, accumulating over 2,000 flight hours. ESA, the European Space Agency, selected him as an astronaut in 2009, and from that moment his career became the stuff of legend. In Artemis III, Parmitano will serve as pilot: not a passenger, not a mission specialist, but the pilot, the person who, together with the commander, has the spacecraft in their hands. Parmitano’s first mission, in 2013, was called Volare, a tribute to the famous song by Domenico Modugno. Parmitano reached the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz launched from Baikonur, in Kazakhstan. During that mission, one of his spacewalks came close to tragedy: Parmitano’s helmet began to fill with water because of a fault in the ventilation system. Within minutes, he found himself with almost two litres of water around his head, unable to see clearly or hear properly, and facing the real risk of drowning in open space. With absolute composure, guided by the voice of mission control, he managed to return to the station safe and sound. That episode is still studied today in space training programmes as an example of emergency management.
His second mission, in 2019–2020, was called Beyond. Parmitano returned to the ISS aboard Soyuz MS-13 and remained in orbit for about six months. During that stay, he reached a historic milestone: he became commander of Expedition 61, the first time an Italian had taken command of the International Space Station. He was only the third European in history ever to do so. During Beyond, he also carried out experiments in physics, biology and medicine, and completed the famous London Marathon from space: while athletes were running through the streets of London, he completed the 42 kilometres on the ISS exercise bike, in orbit at an altitude of 400 kilometres. The news of Parmitano’s assignment to Artemis III has a meaning that goes far beyond the individual astronaut. It is the first time in history that an ESA astronaut has been assigned to an Artemis mission. Josef Aschbacher, ESA’s Director General, commented that Parmitano’s assignment as pilot recognises the depth of European experience in human spaceflight. And it is not only about astronauts: the European Service Module, built by ESA and the European space industry, much of it Italian, thanks to Thales Alenia Space, is the propulsive heart of the Orion capsule. Without Europe’s contribution, Artemis would not fly. The other crew members include Randy Bresnik, from California, who will be the mission commander. He flew on the shuttle Atlantis in 2009 and then on the Soyuz in 2017. A retired Marine Corps colonel, he has flown 95 types of aircraft, accumulating more than 7,000 flight hours. Frank Rubio, a doctor and US Army aviator, will serve as mission specialist. His name entered the history books in 2023, when he spent 371 consecutive days on the ISS, the all-time record for an American astronaut on a single spaceflight. Andre Douglas will be on his first space mission. An engineer with four master’s degrees and a doctorate in systems engineering, he has designed autonomous vehicles for defence and space exploration.
Source: NASA, press release issued on 9 June 2026 – nasa.gov