2 Artemis III astronauts have ties to Southern California – NBC Los Angeles

Two of the four astronauts named Tuesday to the Artemis III mission, an important next step in NASA‘s return to the moon, have ties to Southern California.

Randy Bresnik, of Santa Monica, and Frank Rubio, who was born in Los Angeles, will be part of the crew tasked with heading back to space next year for a crucial lunar lander test. They will join NASA astronaut Andre Douglas and Luca Parmitano, of the European Space Agency, on the launch into Earth orbit.

Bresnik, who was born in Kentucky but considers Santa Monica his hometown, is the mission commander. Rubio, who was born in LA and now lives in Florida, will be a mission specialist.

The mission will test at least one of two commercially developed lunar landers designed to carry astronauts to the moon’s surface in 2028. Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ blue Origin are building the landers that will part of the Artemis III tests.

In updates Tuesday, both companies said they expect their models to be ready.

The Artemis III mission is expected to last about two weeks, about four days longer than the Artemis II mission around the moon earlier this year. The flight is expected to be the final test mission for the Artemis program, providing critical information by testing crew capsule rendezvous and docking operations with the lunar lander or landers.

If successful, NASA plans to land a team on the moon with the Artemis IV mission.

Artemis III will be critical because the moon-landing plan requires a lander to meet with the Orion spacecraft, which transported the Artemis II crew, which included Pomona’s Victor Glover, in April. After rendezvous and docking, two Artemis IV crewmembers would then transfer to the lander for a voyage to the moon’s surface.

The lander would become a living quarters on the moon for the duration of the astronauts’ stay. When it’s time to leave, the lander will blast off and carry the astronauts back to Orion for the journey home to Earth.

The long-term goal is to establish a sustained human presence on the moon, including a base on the lunar surface.