HWHAP Ep426: Meet Artemis III
JSC · 2026-06-12
HWHAP: Meet Artemis III Nilufar Ramji Houston We Have a Podcast. Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center, episode 426: Meet Artemis III. I'm Nilufar Ramji, and I'll be your host today. On this podcast, we bring in the experts: scientists, engineers, and astronauts, all to let you know what's going on in the world of human space flight and more. On the heels of NASA's historic Artemis II mission, the agency is preparing to return Americans to the lunar surface and build the capabilities needed to stay there. While NASA continues to advance the systems needed to support a sustained human presence beyond Earth, we here at NASA Johnson are supporting the astronauts and mission teams who are training for the future of space flight. The Artemis III mission will demonstrate the capabilities of lunar spacecraft in low Earth orbit. A crew of four astronauts will launch in the Orion spacecraft on top of the Space Launch System rocket to test rendezvous and docking capabilities between Orion and commercial human landing systems. In this episode, we meet the crew of Artemis III, four explorers who will test the spacecraft, demonstrate capabilities, and eventually train crews who will go on to perform these maneuvers at the Moon. Let's go, for all humanity. Nilufar Ramji First up, we'll be talking to the Commander of the mission and the Pilot. The Commander of Artemis III is Randy “Komrade” Bresnik, a Marine Corps test pilot turned NASA astronaut. He's logged 149 days in space across two missions, flown in both the space shuttle and Russian Soyuz, done five spacewalks totaling over 32 hours, and commanded the International Space Station on Expedition 53. With over 7000 flight hours in nearly 100 aircraft, including combat missions, as an F/A-18 pilot, he blends raw experience with exceptional leadership. A Citadel Military College math grad and University of Tennessee Aviation Systems masters, he's now shaping Artemis missions at NASA. Before being selected as commander, he was serving as Assistant to the Chief of the Astronaut Office. Next our Pilot, European Space Agency's Luca Parmitano, an Italian Air Force test pilot who has spent 367 days in space over two long duration space station missions. He's flown twice on the Russian Soyuz, conducted six spacewalks totaling 33 hours, and made history as the first Italian and third European to command at the International Space Station during Expedition 61. With over 2000 flight hours across more than 40 aircraft, he blends technical skill with leadership. A political science grad from the University of Naples, he also holds a master's in experimental flight test engineering. Let's meet your Artemis III Commander and Pilot. Nilufar Ramji Well, first off, congratulations on your assignments. This is incredibly exciting, but you have lots of work and training ahead. So, tell us a little bit, how you were told you were assigned to the mission, and what was it like when you found out? Randy Bresnik I had the fortunate opportunity this flight to have the chief of the astronaut office call a meeting where all the crew members were present, and that was really special for me, because my previous flights, it was me and the chief, and that was it, and my crew wasn't, you know, who I was gonna be flying with was not there, and so that was just afterwards. I sat and was just really thankful for that, for everybody to find out about each other at the same time. Luca Parmitano So for me was slightly different, because I believe that my boss couldn't quite, the way we say Italian, hold the nut in his mouth. Nilufar Ramji He had no poker face. Luca Parmitano And so he called me, and I was on a train, so a public space, and at the time I was responsible for the crew on orbit on the on the International Space Station with Expedition on 74 the role, so-called the increment lead, so when I saw the call, I immediately thought that it was going to be something concerning the crew on orbit. And so I answered the phone, and the boss told me, "Hey, Luca, I want you to know that we want you to be the pilot on the Artemis III mission.” And I was very much unprepared for that answer, and so it went through one ear, it didn't register in my brain, came out the other ear, and I literally said, "Can you say that again?” and it told me the same words, and then it did register, but I was in a public environment, so I knew that I couldn't say anything out loud, so I was literally speechless, which doesn't happen very often, and then I was very, very honored when I, when I met the crew for the first time a couple of days later. Nilufar Ramji So you all knew each other, but in this configuration as the Artemis III crew you had met, and how are you feeling right now? Luca Parmitano Well, Komrade has known me since I've been an astronaut, because I came into the core in 2010 So he has known me for my entire professional life as an astronaut. And for me, I can only hope to learn as much