NASA is set to reveal the four astronauts assigned to the Artemis III mission on June 9, 2026, in a live event at Johnson Space Center in Houston beginning at 11 a.m. EDT. The announcement, which will stream on NASA+ and YouTube, comes weeks after the successful Artemis II crewed test flight around the Moon in April, and marks the next major step in America’s return to deep space.
According to a report by Space.com, Artemis III will not be the mission that lands astronauts on the lunar surface. In a significant revision to the original Artemis architecture announced by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman in late February, Artemis III has been redesigned as a rendezvous and docking test flight in Earth orbit. The four-person crew aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft will perform critical docking manoeuvres with commercial human landing systems, including SpaceX’s Starship, to validate the systems needed before a crewed lunar touchdown.
The actual Moon landing has been pushed to Artemis IV, currently targeting late 2028. That mission will aim for the lunar south pole, a region of intense scientific interest due to evidence of water ice deposits in permanently shadowed craters. NASA’s long-term base concept envisions eventual surface operations covering hundreds of square miles near that location, laying the groundwork for a sustained human presence on the Moon.
The crew announcement on June 9 arrives roughly one year before Artemis III’s scheduled mid-2027 launch, following standard NASA practice of naming crews at the one-year mark to allow time for mission-specific training. Following the event, the selected astronauts will be available for limited in-person and virtual interviews. NASA has not indicated which astronauts from its active corps are being considered, but the pool includes veterans from the Artemis II flight as well as other experienced crew members.
The broader Artemis programme aims to establish scientific discovery and economic opportunity on and around the Moon, while building the operational experience needed for eventual crewed missions to Mars. Artemis III, even without a landing, represents a critical test of the multi-vehicle architecture that will carry future crews from Earth orbit all the way to the lunar surface and back.
