NASA to Name Artemis III Crew During June 9 Event in Houston

NASA will announce the astronauts assigned to Artemis III and provide a mission progress update during a live event June 9 at Johnson Space Center in Houston, the agency said.

The event is scheduled for 11 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, and will stream on NASA+ and NASA’s YouTube channel. NASA has not yet publicly identified the Artemis III crew in its advisory; the June 9 event is when the agency plans to reveal the names.

The announcement matters because Artemis III is NASA’s next Artemis mission after Artemis II, the crewed test flight that flew successfully in April 2026. NASA’s public Artemis III mission page currently lists the mission for 2027, making the upcoming event the first public notice of when the agency will name the astronauts for that flight.

NASA describes Artemis III as a mission that will launch four astronauts from Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard the Orion spacecraft on the Space Launch System rocket. According to the agency, the flight is intended to test critical rendezvous and docking capabilities between Orion and commercial human landing systems, work NASA says is needed to deliver astronauts to the lunar surface.

That framing keeps Artemis III centered on the technical milestones NASA says it must achieve as it advances the Artemis moon program. In the advisory announcing the June 9 event, NASA cast the mission as the next step following Artemis II’s crewed test flight.

NASA also said the Artemis III astronauts will be available for limited in-person and virtual interviews after the announcement.

For now, the agency is offering a date, time and setting for the reveal — not the names themselves. More details on the crew and the mission’s status are expected when NASA goes live from Houston on June 9.