Washington: NASA named the Artemis III crew for a 2027 mission that will test systems needed for future human Moon landings.
The crew includes Andre Douglas and Frank Rubio as mission specialists, Luca Parmitano as pilot and Randy Bresnik as commander.
NASA said the astronauts will launch from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida aboard the Orion spacecraft on the Space Launch System rocket.
The mission will send the crew into low Earth orbit, where they will test rendezvous and docking with commercial spacecraft.
NASA officials said those manoeuvres will help reduce risks for later missions planned to land astronauts on the Moon.
Read: Artemis 2 Astronauts Reach Halfway Point to Moon
Parmitano, an Italian astronaut, will represent the European Space Agency. ESA said he has spent 366 days in space across two long-duration missions to the International Space Station.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman called Artemis III “the beginning of the future.”
The announcement came after a Blue Origin craft linked to future Moon transport plans exploded during a test last month.
