US Army Astronaut Tapped for NASA’s Artemis III Mission
The four-person crew will practice docking with lunar landers from Blue Origin and SpaceX as NASA prepares for a possible 2028 moon landing.
- On Tuesday, NASA announced that Frank Rubio, a Miami-Dade County native, will serve as a mission specialist for Artemis III, scheduled to launch by the middle of 2027.
- Rubio's selection follows his record-setting 371-day mission aboard the International Space Station, where he set the American record for the longest single spaceflight after a spacecraft coolant leak prolonged his stay.
- Three Artemis III crew members share military backgrounds, including Commander Randy Bresnik, a retired Marine Corps colonel, and mission specialist Andre Douglas, who graduated from the Coast Guard Academy.
- Rubio, a former Black Hawk pilot, said in a Tuesday statement that "my Army training has been an integral part" of his readiness, adding service taught him to lead under pressure.
- The four-person crew will orbit Earth to evaluate how Orion navigates and docks with commercial landing systems from SpaceX and Blue Origin, serving as a proving ground for the 2028 Artemis IV flight to the South Pole.
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Former Fort Carson-stationed battalion surgeon selected for NASA's Artemis III Mission
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- A former Fort Carson-stationed battalion surgeon has been selected as Mission Specialist 1 for the upcoming Artemis III mission. Officials confirm U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command’s Col. Frank Rubio will join NASA Commander Randy Bresnik and Andre Douglas, as well as ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano, on a mission to test systems required for cislunar operations. Rubio was stationed at Fort Carson before h…
Army Times
US Army astronaut tapped for NASA’s Artemis III mission
The U.S. Army is launching into space — once again — by way of Col. Frank Rubio, who will be part of the 2027 Artemis III mission, NASA announced Tuesday. The astronaut will be part of a four-man crew that will tackle a host of difficult tests within Earth’s orbit in preparation for NASA’s 2028 Artemis IV flight, which will be the first crewed mission to the moon’s South Pole. Rubio’s mission is slated to serve as a proving ground for future lun…
Frank Rubio already had a place in NASA history. In 2023, he returned to Earth after spending 371 days in space, the longest mission ever undertaken by an American astronaut. Now he adds another achievement to his list…
By Merlín Delcid and Rocío Muñoz-Ledo, CNN en Español. Frank Rubio already had a place in NASA history. In 2023, he returned to Earth after spending 371 days in space, the longest mission ever undertaken by an American astronaut. Now he adds another achievement to his career: he was selected to be part of the Artemis III mission, becoming the first Latino astronaut assigned to a mission in the program with which the space agency seeks to return …
4 astronauts were selected by NASA for the Artemis III mission, and 1 of them has deep roots in South Florida
Frank Rubio, a graduate of Miami Sunset Senior High School in Miami-Dade County, has been named a mission specialist for Artemis III, NASA's next crewed mission designed to advance the agency's plans for future lunar exploration.
The story of Frank Rubio led him from combat missions to be part of one of NASA's most ambitious space projects.
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