NASA names four-man crew to Artemis 3 mission

The crew of NASA's next Artemis moon program mission was announced Tuesday, setting the stage for a flight to Earth orbit next year to test rendezvous and docking procedures with moon landers being built by SpaceX and Blue Origin, a critical milestone before sending astronauts back to the moon for landing in 2028.

"We are doing flight tests on every single flight, incrementally determining the flight envelope, expanding it, proving out capabilities and making the operational procedures that we have more and more precise," Bresnik told a crowd of supporters at the Johnson Space Center.

The Artemis III mission will be commanded by Randy "Komrade" Bresnik, 58, a former Marine fighter pilot and "TOPGUN" graduate who logged 149 days in space during a space shuttle flight in 2009 and a long-duration stay aboard the International Space Station in 2017.