NASA names Artemis 3 astronauts today
NASA introduces the Artemis 3 crew on Tuesday from Johnson Space Center, a mission redirected earlier this year toward a docking test in Earth orbit.
- NASA reveals the Artemis 3 crew on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, at 11 a.m. ET, from Johnson Space Center in Houston, with live coverage on the agency's platforms.
- The crew names are not public as this is written, with the announcement expected later in the day.
- The mission was redirected earlier this year: instead of a Moon landing, Artemis 3 will test docking between the Orion capsule and the commercial lunar landers SpaceX Starship and Blue Origin Blue Moon in low Earth orbit.
- Launch is planned for mid-2027, while the actual Moon landing has slipped to the Artemis 4 and 5 missions.
NASA introduces the astronauts assigned to Artemis 3 on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, and offers a progress update on the program. The event is set for 11 a.m. Eastern time at Johnson Space Center in Houston, streamed live on the agency’s official platforms. As this article is written, the names of the crew members have not been released, so exactly who will be introduced remains to be seen later in the day.
The announcement lands at a moment when the mission itself looks different from the original plan. Earlier this year, NASA redirected Artemis 3: rather than the flight on which humans would step onto the Moon again for the first time since the Apollo era, it is now framed as a low Earth orbit mission to rehearse the maneuvers needed for a future landing. That does not mean the goal of returning to the surface has been dropped, only that it has shifted to later flights in the sequence.
Why is NASA pushing the Moon landing to later missions?
The change comes down to the order in which the hardware gets tested. For astronauts to reach the lunar surface, the Orion capsule has to dock reliably with a lander that carries them down. That docking maneuver, performed far from Earth, is part of the system that has not yet been proven in real conditions with a crew aboard.
For that reason, Artemis 3 is now designed to test the docking closer to home, in low Earth orbit, where a return would be quicker and safer if something goes wrong. The landers being checked under this plan are two commercial systems: SpaceX Starship and Blue Origin Blue Moon. Only once docking and the landers’ performance are confirmed can later missions move on to the landing itself.
Under the current schedule, the Artemis 3 launch is planned for mid-2027, while the first crewed touchdown on the Moon has been moved to the Artemis 4 and 5 missions. It is a step by step approach in which each flight verifies one link in the chain before the next one begins.
How Artemis 3 fits into the program
Artemis 3 is not a standalone event but the next link in a series of flights. The previous mission, Artemis 2, flew in April 2026 with four astronauts and set a distance record from Earth for a crewed flight. That flight tested Orion with a crew on a path around the Moon, without landing, and laid the groundwork for the steps that follow.
The Artemis 3 mission has been redirected to test docking between the Orion capsule and commercial lunar landers in low Earth orbit, while the actual Moon landing has moved to later missions.
It is worth keeping in mind that today’s announcement brings the crew names and a status update, but it does not change the core schedule that is already known. Which astronauts are chosen will only be clear at the press conference itself, and the technical details of the landers and the exact dates may be refined further as preparation proceeds.
Do you think redirecting Artemis 3 to an Earth orbit test is sensible caution before a landing, or an unnecessary delay in returning humans to the Moon?
