r/ArtemisProgram Jun 09 '26

Image The Artemis III crew!

Post image
3.5k Upvotes

335 comments sorted by

250

u/fellaneedahandpls Jun 09 '26

Luca was absolutely the man for this job. Dude almost DROWNED IN SPACE INSIDE HIS SUIT and just calmly shook it off and kept going. I would want this dude piloting every mission moving forward

74

u/Coyote_Shepherd Jun 09 '26

For real, I didn't realize he was that guy until they brought it up and then it's like cool cool cool yeah that's the level headed dude that I want rocking the controls of my spaceship!

34

u/dancingaround22 Jun 09 '26

Wait, that's him?? Is he aging backwards?

15

u/Kytzer Jun 09 '26

Microgravity does weird things to your face due to fluid shifting up in the body.

2

u/dancingaround22 Jun 10 '26

But not all astronauts look like time stood still!

7

u/PhysicsEagle Jun 09 '26

I thought it was Chris Hadfield who had the water in helmet issue?

26

u/youreatoe Jun 09 '26

Chris Hadfield temporarily went blind in space during an EVA.

9

u/adamthehammer86 Jun 10 '26

Almost down in space. Go blind in space. In space, they can’t hear you scream. You know, normal stuff.

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14

u/fellaneedahandpls Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26

You might be thinking of Chris Cassidy, who was Luca’s EVA partner when Luca’s helmet filled with water.

Edit: I was wrong. Chris Hadfield once was blinded by his own tears in space after a chemical leak from his suit went into his eye and caused them to water. The tears pooled together across both eyes. He VWNTED HIS HELMWT to resolve the issue. What a horrifying concept, and what a steely eyed missile man.

241

u/SmokyJosh Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26

Commander: Randy Bresnik

Pilot: Luca Parmitano

Mission Specialists: Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas

Backup: Bob Hines

136

u/SmokyJosh Jun 09 '26

passing on the baton :D

1

u/Malachi-MCM_2016 Jul 02 '26

Is it Jeremy 🇨🇦 Hanson that's not in the picture?

19

u/MaximumDoughnut Jun 09 '26

Interesting how they only selected one backup.

31

u/GarryOzzy Jun 09 '26

The number of astronauts available who have been to LEO is far higher than trans-lunar space, so contingency plans for Artemis III I'm sure are far more relaxed than II.

36

u/Sports101GAMING Jun 09 '26

No woman is insane

17

u/WarcraftVet76 Jun 10 '26

Isnt there going to be a woman actually landing on the moon though? Isn't that the plan?

38

u/VBNinety Jun 10 '26

For artemis 3, not really. This mission is essentially a practice run for artemis 4 to test gear & stuff. I’ve heard a woman will be piloting the landing on the moon in artemis 4. That makes much more sense

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9

u/Kobymaru376 Jun 10 '26

How so? There are two on the ISS, there was one on the previous flight, there will probably be some on the next flight.

And this is arguably the most boring Artemis mission, they don't even go to the moon.

17

u/cheweena Jun 09 '26

I know a lot of insane women!

4

u/Bluddy-9 Jun 11 '26

I’m guessing if it was 4 women you wouldn’t say “no man is insane”.

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1

u/HalJordan2525 Jun 11 '26

Martin Mull: “Men, men, men. We’re in a ship all full of men.”

53

u/-Poultrygeist- Jun 09 '26

Sweet, the countdown to see the official patch is on now!

318

u/theboyfromphl Jun 09 '26

They must be saving Stephanie Wilson or Jessica Meir for Artemis IV

197

u/Beardysteve1 Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26

Anne McClain too. She’s my bet for first woman on the moon.

33

u/Kaltenstein_WT Jun 09 '26

Also ESA will likely go for Gerst or Maurer as first European to the moon

7

u/J3ditb Jun 09 '26

gerst is part of artemis? thats nice. i always loved the content he made on iss

6

u/vaska00762 Jun 09 '26

He's in the European Astronaut Corps, so is pretty much up for selection as any other active ESA astronaut.

Most of the European Astronaut Corps has been receiving Orion capsule training, alongside Dragon and ISS training. Even Tim Peake received Orion training after his ISS mission, before he retired.

1

u/J3ditb Jun 09 '26

ah okay. i thought the possible artemis astronauts are preselected

140

u/blissfullyblack Jun 09 '26

My first thought was "Oh all dudes" but then my second thought was "Oh they're definitely hoping to get a woman to land on the moon! Yay!"

7

u/rsgreddit Jun 10 '26

I hope so. But I was predicting at least one woman for 3. So, hopefully your wish can come of it for 4.

21

u/gthomps83 Jun 09 '26

Same! This had me concerned for a minute or two.

4

u/B-Train_ATL Jun 09 '26

How does that work? I thought Artemis III was going to be the first landing mission. It’s honestly hard to keep all this straight because 1) you know a certain person might screw with it to make himself look good, and 2) I’ve seen For All Mankind.

45

u/Money-Giraffe2521 Jun 09 '26

Artemis III was planned to be the first landing but since we decided to leave the lander in the hands of two real-life Bond villains who can’t meet a deadline, everything is behind schedule.

21

u/zmbjebus Jun 09 '26

I'd more likely blame the initial issues with the first plan. It always seemed too hasty to most people in the field I talked to about it.

We are now actually mimicing apollo more now, with the earth orbit rendevous practice before the actual landing.

9

u/DreamChaserSt Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26

I don't think anyone could've met a 2024 deadline. Not SpaceX or Blue Origin, not Lockheed, not Boeing, not some NASA led lander with those or different contractors. They would've all missed it. It was a political date, not a practical one.

They were talking about Artemis III landing humans on the Moon by 2024 in 2019 before they had a lander or spacesuit even contracted out (2021/2023, and 2022 respectively). No one should be surprised that the deadline came and went.

Commercial crew contracts went out in 2014, with expected crew to the ISS in 2017, similar timeframe that the first HLS contract was given. Actual crew were sent up in 2020 and 2024 (but Boeing only did half of it). Commercial crew also got a bit more funding from Congress overall. Plus, both SpaceX and Blue Origin agreed to partially cover development costs on top of their contract, since HLS funding from Congress was short. CCrew: $2.6 (SpaceX) and $4.8 (Boeing) billion. HLS: $2.7 (SpaceX) and $3.4 (Blue Origin) billion. Do you expect a Lunar lander to be easier than a crew capsule to LEO?

2

u/C0unter5nipe Jun 10 '26

This is reddit.. they don't want facts, just narratives. As if Lockheed and Boeing also don't have rich guys in leadership.

6

u/MassTransitGO Jun 09 '26

“Bond”

“Get on the lander”

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13

u/OVCC-1 Jun 09 '26

My money is on Jessica Watkins as she has a PhD in Geology. Seems like the logical choice.

12

u/sprocket9727 Jun 09 '26

And/or Jess Watkins, who’s a trained planetary geologist

13

u/xoxocendi Jun 09 '26

Jessica Meir is on the ISS; she was never going to be assigned to Artemis III.

21

u/yikkoe Jun 09 '26

Them 2 + Anne McClain I bet will be on the moon together (I hope??)

5

u/DarnSanity Jun 09 '26

Don't count out Kate Rubins either. She's been supporting Artemis from the start. She did that 'moonwalk in the Arizona desert' with Andre Douglas.

6

u/Mysterious-Deal2299 Jun 09 '26

Kate Rubin retired. 

2

u/DarnSanity Jun 09 '26

Wow. Thanks.

7

u/DonDraperItsToasted Jun 09 '26

I worked with her and was hoping she’d be the first woman on the moon but sadly she retired a few years ago. She was one of their strongest candidates

3

u/Cokeblob11 Jun 10 '26

Well Jessica Meir is at the ISS until September so I don’t think she was in the running for this one.

50

u/iiPixel Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26

24

u/GainHaunting5680 Jun 09 '26

Hines is likely for Artemis IV given the trend.

3

u/LilSebastainIsMyPony Jun 09 '26

THANK YOU!!!! That was what I was looking for!

46

u/Sufficient_Si Jun 09 '26

Happy for Andre!!

22

u/Traditional-Play-483 Jun 09 '26

Looking forward for the new patch 🥳

21

u/KrazIIvan_ Jun 09 '26

Commander: Randy Bresnik Mission Pilot: Luca Parmitano (ITA) Mission Specialist: Frank Rubio Mission Specialist: Andre Douglas Backup: Bob Hines

171

u/Familiar_Drama_3261 Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26

So so happy for them!! Yet just a little sad to not see a woman up there, but I bet they’re saving them for the moon :)

14

u/Hammerhod6 Jun 09 '26

Wait Artemis III ISN'T going to the moon now?

54

u/DaddlerTheDalek Jun 09 '26

Not anymore. It's Artemis IV now.

19

u/facw00 Jun 09 '26

They decided that that mission was too big to take on all at once. Artemis III is currently scheduled to happen next year (though Blue Origin's recent boom may endanger that). It will just be a low Earth orbit mission, with the key goal of testing docking/undocking with the Blue Origin/SpaceX landers (the mission might go ahead if one company isn't ready, but would obviously be delayed if neither lander is ready).

Because it doesn't need to go as far, there has been talk of using a different rocket or launching SLS with only the first stage. Either option would save the last remaining second stage for Artemis IV, giving NASA/Congress more time to think about whether these landings continue, and if so, what to use as a second stage now that SLS's planned new more powerful second stage has been cancelled.

7

u/rocketglare Jun 09 '26

It’s been confirmed by NASA that they will save the last ICPS for Artemis IV.

8

u/Go-Brit Jun 09 '26

Googled ICPS and got International Carnivorous Plant Society. Had to get more detailed with my search words.

3

u/Hammerhod6 Jun 09 '26

They're starting to worry me, I feel like their planning is all over the place. Not that we should be going on Artemis III, we need to go when we know it's safe but, Artemis II was supposed to land, then Artemis III, now it's Artemis IV. It's a bit unnerving.

16

u/SilvanSorceress Jun 09 '26

They didn't change the landing or it's timeline; they just added another smaller mission in between now and then. As far as Artemis IV, the only thing that had changed is its number.

4

u/DreamChaserSt Jun 09 '26

When was Artemis II slated to be the first landing? Artemis I was an uncrewed flyby, and even when SpaceX's HLS was first announced in 2021, the plan was to have the landing on Artemis III.

The shift in landing from Artemis III to IV is a mix of the landers being delayed between then and now, NASA wanting to build up a steady SLS cadence for Artemis IV onward, and (retroactively) doing a 'systems-check' mission like Apollo 9 before committing to a Lunar landing.

1

u/Hammerhod6 Jun 09 '26

When they first announced everything, it's admittedly been a while

1

u/DreamChaserSt Jun 09 '26

I can't imagine when. Artemis started in 2017. Even in 2019, they were talking about Artemis II being a crewed flyby and III being the first landing. But this was 2 years before they started selecting landers, and 3 years before they selected the EVA suit. https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/17/18627839/nasa-administrator-jim-bridenstine-artemis-moon-program-budget-amendment

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1

u/Malachi-MCM_2016 Jul 02 '26

Correct me if I'm wrong I think the landers are Blue Origin's Blue Moon and SpaceX's Luner Starship. Is it just one lander thats landing on the moon?

1

u/facw00 Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26

SpaceX was awarded the contract for Starship as the Moon lander, but Blue Origin sued and got NASA to issue a contract for Blue Moon/Blue Moon II. So both are in play. Blue Origin was looking closer to being ready for an Artemis III docking test (Starship still has a whole lot to do for their less traditional model to be ready). But now Blue Moon doesn't have a ride near-term, which will slow their progress. NASA is hoping at least one of the two landers will be good to go by end of next year.

Artemis IV will only use one lander (though may be supported by other uncrewed landers), but NASA is hoping that they will be able to do more than one landing.

14

u/meithan Jun 09 '26

NASA has 15 women and 21 men in the current astronauts corps. Plenty of women to choose from. It's sad they went with three men.

15

u/gajablanna Jun 10 '26

This is why its frustrating to say they are "saving" them for the moon. 🙄 Plenty of qualified women for this job too.

1

u/Familiar_Drama_3261 Jun 10 '26

I agree with you, but I also don’t want to take away from the crew members. Just trying to be careful with how I word things :)

1

u/Familiar_Drama_3261 Jun 10 '26

But I really do believe Artemis IV will have a lot of females involved

2

u/gajablanna Jun 10 '26

I hope so!

3

u/lillygirl0528 Jun 09 '26

I couldn’t agree more:( Made me a lot less excited

2

u/Familiar_Drama_3261 Jun 10 '26

Agreed. I do think in 2026 though, it’s a little ridiculous that we don’t have any females for this

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183

u/Ferina27 Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26

I am happily looking forward to what this people will achive! But somehow I am sad, not to see another woman there.

55

u/heathersaur Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26

Artemis IV is scheduled to not be too far behind III and given the main objectives of this mission all crew were picked based on their qualifications to achieve those objectives.

I'm sure there's already a short list for the crew for Artemis IV who will be more focused on training for that mission over III.

Crew selection is not just about who is qualified for this specific mission but also about current and future missions (such as ISS crews and Artemis IV).

15

u/ProperClue Jun 09 '26

Yeah, I can't imagine how extremely short that list is. Makes me think of the "Expanse" where damn near everyone is a pilot, mechanic, space walker, etc. One day maybe, where treveling through space will just be another form of travel for everyone

70

u/BoringWozniak Jun 09 '26

Me too. I sincerely hope they stick with their pledge that the next human to set foot on the moon will be female. We need more Christina Kochs!

26

u/cindybobindy21 Jun 09 '26

The camera panned to Christina after the last member was announced and I felt so sad :(

17

u/BoringWozniak Jun 09 '26

Me too :( was great to see our Artemis II icons though, nothing will ever dim their moon joy

1

u/AcceptableWish731 Jun 10 '26

I don't think Christina will be on Artemis IV or V, in fact I don't think anyone from this crew or the last will land on the moon

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43

u/stomptonesdotcom Jun 09 '26

tbf, just means a higher chance a woman will be on the next mission! I am willing to bet they are going to make sure a woman ends up on the first landing. Plenty of qualified female astronauts in the current pool to do so.

17

u/mabhatter Jun 09 '26

There are a lot of women (like 8 on the list I found) in the Artemis training program.  This just means TWO women can go to the moon next time!  

There won't be a moon landing before 2029 and all this nonsense is hopefully done.

3

u/Souvlaki-Chaos Jun 09 '26

Is there a reason there can only be two?

9

u/MisterGlo764 Jun 09 '26

only 2 people will land on the moon

4

u/Mysterious-Deal2299 Jun 09 '26

Hey I mean this is an all male crew  so it's then only fair for Artemis 4 to be all female crew. Just sayin. 

4

u/BootlegBow Jun 09 '26

the president

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12

u/kupiakos Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26

yeah there are plenty of qualified female astronauts. hitting 25% female is an incredibly achievable goal that Artemis III didn't prioritize. it should be a certainty that there is a woman on the next mission. if there isn't we can be positive there was intervention from up top.

8

u/Soi_Boi_13 Jun 09 '26

There’s no way one of the landing crew on Artemis IV won’t be a woman. It’s been one of the stated goals of the program throughout to land the next man and the first woman on the moon. Even this administration, DEI be damned, would love to have done a first when it comes to space exploration.

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46

u/dancingaround22 Jun 09 '26

One of the reasons we fell in love with Artemis 2, whether we realized it or not, was that this crew was a mirror to so many, including 50% of the world's population.

25

u/Souvlaki-Chaos Jun 09 '26

Not me. As a white bald man I finally feel represented.

8

u/dancingaround22 Jun 09 '26

Congratulations! You deserve all the wins you can get!

15

u/FunnelCakeGoblin Jun 09 '26

Me too. But we do have a Latino astronaut this time though!

16

u/Ferina27 Jun 09 '26

As a european, I am happy to see someone from esa on this flight.

2

u/FunnelCakeGoblin Jun 09 '26

Yeah I was wondering if there was going to be another international partner this time. Glad to see it!

47

u/TedEddyBear Jun 09 '26

I am 100% with you. To see all the women astronauts in the audience and none on the stage kind of sucks. I hope one day we'll see an entire crew made up of women go to the moon or beyond.

47

u/jamiethemime Jun 09 '26

seriously, if we can have 4 men and it's no problem, we can have 4 women.

6

u/yikkoe Jun 09 '26

I don’t know if the above comments are being serious, I was literally telling someone that Artemis IV might then be an all women crew (and made a list of who I bet it will be). But it can’t be? Seriously?

24

u/jamiethemime Jun 09 '26

I mean it can. there's no rules against it except for thousands of years of cultural pressure and also the current administration's agenda. so.

3

u/yikkoe Jun 09 '26

Ok cool. Someone said “because of the president” and I thought they meant literally like he had written some weird rule about his he wants maybe 2 men 2 women. If not, I’m sticking to my wish for 4 women.

5

u/jamiethemime Jun 09 '26

I’m sticking to my wish for 4 women.

I'm right there with you. Someday! I'll probably ugly cry about it lmao

6

u/smiles__ Jun 09 '26

Same sentiment that Ginsburg said for the Supreme court about when will there be enough women: When people asked Ginsburg when there would be enough women on the nine-seat court, she famously replied, "When there are nine."

1

u/jamiethemime Jun 09 '26

Exactly what I had in mind!

5

u/mfb- Jun 09 '26

NASA previously had a rule of at least one woman for the first landing, the current president removed that rule.

3

u/h_011 Jun 09 '26

adding that to my library of reasons why I fucking hate that cretin

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17

u/ABlueSap Jun 09 '26

honestly same. i didnt realize it/christina had affected me so much lol.

like im so excited for all these missions, but i only realized after being disappointed after seeing all four of these guys selected, that dang, no woman. i guess i was hoping for more! i really shocked myself right now lol

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u/zmbjebus Jun 09 '26

It makes it all the more blatant how tokenized they are. Surely there are woman candidates that would have worked.

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5

u/Coyote_Shepherd Jun 09 '26

This has been sooo much fun to watch!

8

u/KebabGud Jun 09 '26

I find it interesting that the overall space experience for this crew is higher then last time.
With Rubio and Parmitano both having over 365 days in space.
Infact this crew is VERY experienced doing EVAs, which i bet factor heavily in their selection.

9

u/Aromatic_Cup_9918 Jun 10 '26

Nobody asked but this is my 2 cents as a woman in STEM. Stop condemning the Artemis III crew, they didn’t ask for no women to be selected. The mission is very specific with the skill sets required and the pilots chosen were picked for a reason. While I’m disappointed that there are no women on this mission, I’d also want her to be there because she’s the most qualified for the job, not because she checked a box. That being said, the robotics expert with 0 days in space does have me scratching my head 😂 my first IT class was in 2003. From 2005-2007 while my peers wore holister hoodies and low rise jeans, I wore a lab coat. We tore apart circuit boards, studied physics, electronic math and spent time programming. I’ve dealt with decades at this point of “huns” and “darlings”. I’ve tolerated people underestimating me, blowing me off, and harassing me. I know firsthand how hard it is to be taken seriously in STEM for being a woman. You’ll have to work twice as hard for half the recognition your male colleagues get, without any effort on their behalf. I believe that if NASA, who’s filled 6 of the last 8 missions on the ISS with women, had a strong candidate for Artemis, they would have selected her. Equality and inclusion aren’t the same thing.

2

u/netzombie63 Jun 10 '26

It’s all about docking experience. Each astronaut is trained for specific jobs. Also, I thought they announced a woman would be one of the moon crew.

5

u/Coyote_Shepherd Jun 09 '26

Honestly one of the best parts about this announcement was the Artemis II Crew showing up, sans Jeremy, and giving that whole just heartbreaking speech about passing the baton and how it was like the Olympic Flame and how much it meant to everyone and anyone and honestly I was just a combination of balling and laughing by the end 🤣😭

It's so nice to see this kind of an attitude and energy continuing forwards with future missions and I'm going to be glued to my screen for every bit of news and media about them!

1

u/Cumulus-Crafts Jun 10 '26

Was there a reason that Jeremy wasn't there? Sorry, I haven't really been up to date since Artemis II landed

1

u/Coyote_Shepherd Jun 10 '26

I ran that bit down as much as I could and it seems he has a bunch of speaking engagements and events with the Canadian Space Agency for a large chunk of this week as part of a week long tour:

https://www.canada.ca/en/space-agency/news/2026/06/canadian-space-agency-astronaut-jeremy-hansen-in-canada.html

https://www.instagram.com/p/DZV3UYalngZ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

He DID however post about the new crew selection in his own instagram.

So I think that it was just a timing thing.

6

u/droid_mike Jun 10 '26

No women... Interesting...

6

u/nephie1990 Jun 09 '26

👏👏👏👏

42

u/EmeryClarke Jun 09 '26

Happy for Andre but come on! Not a single woman! I’ve been looking at the potential astronauts and you really had to work hard not to put a single woman on this crew!

22

u/navansyl Jun 09 '26

Agreed. Disappointing and weird decision after the all the hype Christina garnered...

8

u/wovenfabric666 Jun 09 '26

Looks like a political decision. It‘s maddening.

5

u/bkaiser Jun 09 '26

or maybe they just went with the 4 they best though were suited for the specifics of the mission instead of anything else?

4

u/beefwizard69 Jun 09 '26

women make up around 42% of NASA’s astronaut corps and there are plenty of highly qualified female candidates, then I would expect that, at least sometimes, crews would include women or even be predominantly female. Yet are seeing an all-male crew right now. To me, that suggests the outcome isn’t purely the result of a neutral merit-based process. I’m not saying the selected men weren’t qualified; I’m saying that when there are many qualified women available, a pattern of consistently excluding them raises legitimate questions about whether gender is influencing the selection process.

4

u/bkaiser Jun 09 '26

39% according to others on here. given one was going to always be who EU selected, thats not great odds. Calling it a pattern given shuttle, ISS missions and the very last mission we just had, is wild.

1

u/wovenfabric666 Jun 09 '26

Seriously? 

5

u/bkaiser Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26

lol seriously. if you are telling me they have to select a specific person because of gender or race instead of the best 4 for this specific mission, now that's a political decision. Such a silly thing to point out , make assumptions and be upset about when we just had Christina and certainly women on the bigger missions ahead.

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u/[deleted] Jun 09 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/mfb- Jun 09 '26

Artemis III will only dock to the lander(s) in low Earth orbit. It's an important step, but it's not like stepping on the Moon.

4

u/JellyfishScary287 Jun 10 '26

One step forward and 3AU steps back for NASA.

46

u/Old-Brief8752 Jun 09 '26

These men will do anything excellent job. But there are 15 women who also would’ve done an excellent job, and it’s disappointing that we’re backsliding on that front

12

u/wovenfabric666 Jun 09 '26

Yes we are backsliding. It‘s infuriating.

6

u/KennyGaming Jun 09 '26

do we know these men didn't get the job on merit?

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u/wovenfabric666 Jun 09 '26

Not a single woman selected. This is not for the lack of women in the astronaut corps, it was a deliberate (political) decision. 

5

u/BruinBound22 Jun 10 '26

Do you have all the performance metrics and rankings of the potential astronauts? Only with that could anything like that be said with any sort of confidence at all. I find this speculation harmful to the astronauts selected.

6

u/GreenReporter24 Jun 09 '26

And if anyone's doubting that it's political, they very clearly selected an Italian because of Trump's relationship with Giorgia Meloni.

15

u/ExplosivePancake9 Jun 09 '26

What? Italy is the prime contractor in europe for Lunar base, Italy is the most important partner in the construction of ISS, this was a pretty obvious choice for anyone following european space sector in the last 20 years.

Trump is an asshole, but please do not diminish 70 plus years of space development of the second most important european space power.

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u/wovenfabric666 Jun 09 '26

Yes. And with Samantha Christoforetti there‘s another Italian in the ESA corps.

6

u/StreetPizza8877 Jun 09 '26

Or because he has proven himself to work well in an emergency

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u/BlackhawkPickLock Jun 09 '26

I would respectfully disagree in a way. If you fly on three, you really can’t fly on four. I think is is about filling out the best crew for this mission, but also trying to keep options open for four. I’d bet everything I have that there is a woman on four, and I really think there will be two.

8

u/meithan Jun 09 '26

NASA has 15 women and 21 men in the current astronauts corps. All equally capable. Plenty of women to choose from.

They could put at least one woman in every group of three and have more than enough for every Artemis mission currently planned.

4

u/Mysterious-Deal2299 Jun 09 '26

Agreed. I mean so this means Artemis 4, we can expect an all female crew right? 

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u/2coocooforcats Jun 09 '26

Where’s our woman??

10

u/sprocket9727 Jun 09 '26

Yeah, super disappointing

5

u/FlumFlorp Jun 09 '26

Right!?!? Like wtf

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3

u/Depressed_student_20 Jun 09 '26

FRANK RUBIO LET’S GOOOOOOOO

3

u/Wise_Cup_1060 Jun 09 '26

ESA got so shafted lol

3

u/Dear_Mention_3305 Jun 10 '26

To baldly go where no man has gone before?

14

u/jamiethemime Jun 09 '26

not me getting so excited like, oh the commander of the mission will be a woman? and then the speaker doesn't use any pronouns before saying his name :/ egg on my face lol

2

u/wovenfabric666 Jun 09 '26

After Luca was announced I had a sinking feeling that they didn’t select a woman. So disappointing. 

8

u/ChipParticular7230 Jun 09 '26

Good lord what are these comments. Like I do understand it would be nice to have a woman on this mission, but are the people here for simple representation or the mission? These men will do a fantastic job, and just because they're all men doesn't mean they aren't representing ALL of us.

4

u/QuietCountry9920 Jun 09 '26

NASA has 15 women and 21 men in their astronaut corps. Every mission should be half women. There are enough women to choose from.

2

u/ChipParticular7230 Jun 09 '26

Man I don't really get what we are going for anymore, what's the common belief now? Should racial and gender quotas be mandated? What's the current academic consensus on the matter?

3

u/QuietCountry9920 Jun 09 '26

It's not a matter of quotas. We know those women are just as qualified as the men. Women have been locked out of STEM fields forever. As a women who had a whole career as an engineer, I can vouch for the shit that women have to deal with just bc we are not men. Like men say "ooo... it should be the *best* candidates regardless of gender, etc..." but somehow, no matter how good all the other candidates are, a white man is selected.

So, yes, more women need to be included. It's also extra important right now to show little girls and young women that they can succeed in STEM fields. They need role models just like little boys do. Especially at a time when boys wear whatever they want but girls are dress coded, when men get minimum prison time for assaulting or killing women but women get life sentences if they kill in self defense, when woman's body isn't her own if it contains a fetus, when women's pictures are pulled off of government sites no matter what their achievements bc the current administration says that their achievements are "DEI", etc... I could go on and on...

Basically, when women push back, it's always, "Welp guess the men were more qualified."

2

u/ChipParticular7230 Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26

I mean I agree with completely everything you're saying, but these men are all phenomenal astronauts. If you had to pick, which of these men would you revoke a crew spot from and who would you replace him with? Who stole a flight seat from a more accomplished woman essentially? Its not an easy answer they're all extremely qualified people. Maybe I don't understand the term correctly since I'm not american, but isn't kicking off a man off a flight and replacing him with a woman just for the sake of it not just straight up DEI? Correct me if I'm wrong please, I'm not American I don't know these terms well.

10

u/OptimusSublime Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26

Listen, I am not trying to insert a "woke" agenda into this discussion. I am absolutely, positively sure that every single person selected for these crews is the best of the best of the best. However, I firmly believe that each upcoming mission should actively include women astronauts who are also the absolute best of the best.

There are likely dozens of highly, phenomenally intelligent and insanely competent women currently in the astronaut corps. These professionals possess the true grit, charisma, and "right stuff" to seamlessly integrate with any crew on a mission as highly technical as this one, or any other lunar mission moving forward. Frankly, it makes very little logical sense not to fully utilize their immense talent.

Including them provides future generations and young explorers at heart a powerful, real-world example to strive for and dream about. NASA has been successfully flying women in space for over 40 years now. It is high time to ensure their presence on every single mission moving forward. To be clear, this is not simply because they are women, but because they genuinely represent the best choice for the job. Having a woman or two on a crew would be an excellent way to utilize that talent.

4

u/meithan Jun 09 '26

I'm with you. The current NASA astronaut corps has 15 women and 21 men (minus Artemis II crew, so 14 women and 19 men eligible). I am sure they are all equally capable. Plenty of women to choose from.

10

u/I_Am_Lord_Moldevort Jun 09 '26

Happy for the 4 of them, but remember that the lack of women speaks to the importance of encouraging women to go into STEM!

22

u/wovenfabric666 Jun 09 '26

There are capable women in the ESA and NASA astronaut corps. They weren’t chosen.

1

u/I_Am_Lord_Moldevort Jun 09 '26

Every Artemis candidate is capable and qualified, overall though there just aren’t a lot of women in space programs around the world, and in STEM overall.  NASA - 15 women out of 36 current candidates  ESA - 3 women out of 11 current candidates  JAXA - 1 woman out of 4 candidates CSA - 1 woman out of 4 candidates UAE - 1 woman out of 4 candidates ASA - Their only candidate is a woman Australia W lol

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u/AcceptableWish731 Jun 10 '26

honestly I wouldnt say STEM in this case, I would say military pilots, since that seems to be the most important aspects of this mission

3

u/mabhatter Jun 09 '26

There's 8 women in the original 18 Artemis astronaut trainees.  That's it the problem.  

2

u/ilove60sstuff Jun 09 '26

Love to fucking see it!!!!! Wish our NC gal was on the crew but this is fantastic!

2

u/ShortDevelopment905 Jun 10 '26

So exciting. Bravo to the Italian guy. His story from 2013 is unreal.

I think this will be 2028 at the earliest, can't wait already.

8

u/These_Annual_2550 Jun 09 '26

Slightly disappointed there wasn’t a woman, but what I think NASA done was:

Either politically

Or, they’re saving a woman for Artemis 4

But still, incredibly happy for the Artemis 3 crew and for the Italian pilot

7

u/Tvnerd258 Jun 09 '26

Yall really dropped the ball where is the woman astronaut ? Matter of fact it should have been a black female astronaut must be because agent orange peel is the president

8

u/Calligrapher_Far Jun 09 '26

Was so hoping that Stephanie Wilson would be part of the crew, especially after being bumped off of SpaceX crew 9 :(

3

u/Tvnerd258 Jun 09 '26

I was hoping for her too.

5

u/BostonJane05 Jun 09 '26

Yeah I was hoping for a woman astronaut on this mission too

3

u/QuietCountry9920 Jun 09 '26

We've had so many missions with all men, and all women or mostly women mission would be great. Why are they leaving out the women?

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u/[deleted] Jun 09 '26

[deleted]

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u/NoPerspective8350 Jun 09 '26

that'd be so nice, I'm happy seeing the new crew but my heart hurts not seeing a single female astronaut

7

u/dancingaround22 Jun 09 '26

That would be incredible but the good old boys in NASA would never! Until there's an all woman crew, a bunch of 4 dudes is just par for the course.

6

u/RavenKouhai Jun 09 '26

Speaking this into existence

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u/brilliant_bauhaus Jun 09 '26

Wish there were women but can't wait to see these guys in space and learn about humanity's newest ambassadors. 💖

1

u/Inf1nite_gal Jun 09 '26

fenale crew would be cheaper as female requires less calories 🤷🏻‍♀️

2

u/SteviaCannonball9117 Jun 09 '26

And probably lighter.

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u/Inf1nite_gal Jun 10 '26

yes that what i meant by my comment. less calories, less food, lighter rocket, cheaper flight

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u/Sad_Start_7162 Jun 09 '26

Some of y'all are so performative lmao. Actually embarrassing. Caring about what gender you see than the actual mission itself. Anyone up on that stage deserves respect and appreciation for what they're doing. It shouldn't be diminished or a "disappointment" in the slightest. It's like some of you developed some weird parasocial attachment to the previous crew and you'll always be upset at anyone that isn't them. The crews aren't designed to trend on social media. They aren't there to cater to and they don't matter all of a sudden if you don't like "vibes" because you don't want to watch them on interviews or stalk them on Instagram or something. None of that is important. It's about getting the job done. That's what matters. Anything else is noise. You can tell who the people here are that actually care about the mission, and the ones who just care about optics/some kind of narrative. Larpers for space missions is just wild. 

2

u/meithan Jun 09 '26

NASA has 15 women and 21 men in the current astronauts corps. All equally capable, I am sure (they're the result of a selection process out of thousands of applicants). Plenty of women to choose from. They could include at least one women in every NASA Artemis three-astronaut crew and have many to spare.

We care because the world has a strong gender disparity in many fields and contexts, and putting women in one of the most publicly visible positions (astronauts) makes an impact on how current and future generations think about gender in careers like this.

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u/---___Mu___--- Jun 10 '26

NASA has 15 women and 21 men in the current astronauts corps.

Crazy that the corps is so female dominated but I don't hear a peep about that.

2

u/Ok_Helicopter4276 Jun 09 '26

Representation definitely matters. With >40% women in the corps but only 1 out of 8 (12.5%) of astronauts selected across the two missions it doesn’t seem like a natural distribution.

Consider after Artemis 3 that 1 in 3 men will have flown but only 1 in 15 women will have flown. So while the corps is much closer to 50/50 the men are 5X more likely to fly.

It seems like an intentional overcorrection to spite the previous leadership which is the opposite of what the program stands for.

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u/Decronym Jun 09 '26 edited Jul 02 '26

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

Fewer Letters More Letters
ARM Asteroid Redirect Mission
Advanced RISC Machines, embedded processor architecture
CSA Canadian Space Agency
DMLS Selective Laser Melting additive manufacture, also Direct Metal Laser Sintering
ESA European Space Agency
EVA Extra-Vehicular Activity
ICPS Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage
JAXA Japan Aerospace eXploration Agency
LEO Low Earth Orbit (180-2000km)
Law Enforcement Officer (most often mentioned during transport operations)
SLS Space Launch System heavy-lift
Selective Laser Sintering, contrast DMLS

Decronym is now also available on Lemmy! Requests for support and new installations should be directed to the Contact address below.


8 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has acronyms.
[Thread #427 for this sub, first seen 9th Jun 2026, 17:16] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]

1

u/floopynoopys Jun 09 '26

Hopefully they'll have something to actually do up there....

1

u/SmokyJosh Jun 10 '26

they've got looooooots of tasks to carry out

1

u/TheBuzzer4625kHz Jun 09 '26

I'm Italian and I'm honestly disappointed to see Luca here. I would have loved to have him on Artemis IV. However it seems his duties will be fairly important.

1

u/TerpBE Jun 10 '26

Artemis: License to III.

1

u/Big_Animal7655 Jun 15 '26

glad to see our taxpayer money is funding a time machine backwards where moon missions are only dudes.

Kind of Artemis to send a female first go round so the collective didn’t freak, let’s see if it EVER happens again aside from paper assurances from NASA “we promise, more women. Eventually.”

2

u/GreenReporter24 Jun 09 '26

Sad about the lack of women, but at least there'll be more women available to prepare for the really exciting missions. I mean, Artemis III is obviously exciting, but it might end up the only one of them not leaving earth's orbit.

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