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Paul Byrne
@theplanetaryguy.com

The Artemis III Crew, from left to right: - Randy Bresnik, commander - Luca Parmitano, pilot (ESA) - Frank Rubio, mission specialist - Andre Douglas, mission specialist

Paul Byrne
@theplanetaryguy.com

I am excited to see this mission fly! And to see these folks do some cool flight testing and science! And it's awesome to see the diversity of ethnic backgrounds in the crew! But it's really disappointing that it's four dudes.

Paul Byrne
@theplanetaryguy.com

I have NO idea, Shannon. And I don't expect we'll (ever) get insight into why this particular assemblage from the corps for this crew.

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Leo Enright
@ollopa11.bsky.social

TBH it was a fairly narrow bench for this mission: a lot of the obvious female candidates have already clocked up serious rad exposure, so this gig might then rule them out for a trans-Van Allen flight. Pure speculation! Also - and threading softly here - a lot of fence-mending w/ Europe?

Leo Enright
@ollopa11.bsky.social

Fence-mending now confirmed. TBH, I think senior ESA jobs might have been on the line if the Americans hadn't offered something. Space is hard 😉 : bsky.app/profile/spac...

SpaceNews @spacenewsinc.bsky.social

ESA astronaut assignment on Artemis 3 part of negotiations on revised Artemis roles The assignment of an ESA astronaut to Artemis 3 is part of negotiations for revised roles in the overall effort, with a goal of getting its astronauts on the moon....

spacenews.comESA astronaut assignment on Artemis 3 part of negotiations on revised Artemis rolesThe assignment of an ESA astronaut to Artemis 3 is part of negotiations for revised roles in the overall effort, with a goal of getting its astronauts on the moon.