ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano talks about his assignment as the test pilot for the Artemis III mission, announced by NASA on 9 June 2026 in a press conference at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, United States.

Artemis III is planned as a crewed test flight in Earth orbit to demonstrate systems and operations required for future lunar landing missions planned from Artemis IV onwards.

ESA is also providing its third European Service Module for this mission, the powerhouse of the NASA Orion spacecraft which houses the crew during their journey.