NASA defends all-male Artemis III crew selection

NASA’s choice of four men for its Artemis III mission has drawn criticism from space watchers and prompted the agency’s administrator to defend the decision as based on mission needs, experience and astronaut availability.

NASA announced Tuesday at Johnson Space Center that Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas of NASA and Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency will fly on Artemis III. The mission, slated to launch no earlier than summer 2027, will last about two weeks and test rendezvous and docking operations in low-Earth orbit between NASA’s Orion capsule and moon landers being built by SpaceX and Blue Origin.

The crew announcement quickly generated objections online. “Not a single woman flying on Artemis III is an insane choice,” Alexandra Doten, a space influencer who goes by Astro Alexandra, posted on X, NBC News reported. A Reddit post cited by CBS News called the selection “massively upsetting,” adding, “Women represent 50 percent of the population. They deserve at least one seat on every mission from a government run agency.”

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman responded Wednesday on X, writing, “I have seen reactions ranging from disappointment to outrage.” He said the astronaut office made the selection without political appointees and chose the crew “that gives the mission the best chance of meeting its objectives.”

The decision took into account “many factors, including the background and expertise of the astronauts, such as test pilot experience, development work on specific programs, and availability,” Isaacman said.

Bresnik, 58, will command the mission. He is a former military test pilot and “TOPGUN” graduate who has spent 149 days in space on a shuttle mission and a stay aboard the International Space Station. Parmitano, 49, an Italian astronaut who flew high-performance jets for Italy’s air force and has completed two long-duration ISS missions, will serve as pilot. Douglas, 40, is a first-time flier with three master’s degrees and a doctorate in engineering. Rubio, 49, a physician and former UH-60 Black Hawk pilot, holds the U.S. record for the longest single spaceflight after spending 371 days aboard the ISS in 2022 and 2023. NASA astronaut Bob Hines will train as a backup crew member, NBC News reported.

In a CNN interview cited by CBS News, Bresnik said the all-male lineup was “certainly not intentional.” He said NASA leadership had to choose “the crew for this flight that he had available that had the skill sets that he needed.”

The Artemis III test flight is intended to support later lunar landing missions. SpaceX and Blue Origin are each developing landers that could carry astronauts to the moon’s surface. For Artemis IV in 2028, NASA plans for one lander to meet Orion in lunar orbit, transport astronauts to the surface, then launch back from the moon and dock again with Orion for the return to Earth.

NASA has said since 2023 that the Artemis program would land the first woman and first person of color on the moon, though NBC News reported the agency removed that language from some websites last year. Artemis II, the program’s first crewed flight, included Christina Koch, who became the first woman to fly around the moon.

Isaacman pointed to NASA’s broader astronaut pipeline, saying he has flown to space twice with crews that were 50% female and that nearly half of NASA center directors and mission directorate leaders are women. He also noted the latest astronaut candidate class selected under the current administration was majority female, with six women and four men.

NASA has about three dozen active astronauts, including 15 women, according to the reports. Jessica Meir of NASA and Sophie Adenot of the European Space Agency are currently aboard the International Space Station, and NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli is training to command an upcoming SpaceX Crew Dragon mission to the orbiting lab. Bresnik said two other women are training for a later flight.

“The Artemis III astronauts are experienced, qualified, and deserve to be celebrated for the mission they have been assigned, just as the crews that follow will be celebrated when their time comes,” Isaacman said.