NASA selects Soldier, former Black Hawk pilot for Artemis III

WASHINGTON - Army Col. Frank Rubio will return to space for the second time, joining a four-person crew on the Artemis III mission as part of NASA's ultimate goal to return humans to the moon and to maintain U.S superiority in exploration, NASA announced Tuesday.

But this expedition will be notably different from Rubio's first space voyage, during which the Soldier spent a year aboard the International Space Station for scientific study and research. The astronaut will have only a year to 18 months to prepare for the two-week voyage, during which the crew will simulate critical docking capabilities and perform various flight maneuvers.

The crew will launch the Orion spacecraft from Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida, in late 2027, an important step before the Artemis IV mission in 2028, which is scheduled to land on the moon's South Pole.

NASA named Rubio as mission specialist 1; he will be joined by retired Marine Corps Col. Randy Bresnik as commander, Coast Guard Reserve Cmdr. Andre Douglas as mission specialist 2 and Italian Air Force Col. Luca Parmitano as pilot.

The last time circumstances tested Rubio's resolve, it resulted in the longest ever recorded spaceflight in U.S. history. During a scheduled six-month mission in December 2022, the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft carrying Rubio and two cosmonauts suffered a fuel leak, pushing Rubio's return date to September 2023. The Soldier spent 371 days in space, traveling more than 157 million miles and completing 5,963 Earth orbits during Expeditions 68 and 69.

"I tend to thrive trying to attempt challenges and trying to overcome things," Rubio said. "And [Artemis III] is going to be a very difficult goal of completing this mission in about a year, to a year and a half. We have a lot of work to do, lots to learn, lots of development to do, but I think we're up for it as a NASA team and as a nation."

During Artemis III, the crew will test Orion systems while launching the world's most powerful rockets. While remaining in low earth orbit about 290 miles above Earth, the crew will also assess the hardware of Orion and commercial lunar landing systems, paving the way for landing on the lunar surface. The astronauts will also test the durability of the Axiom extravehicular mobility unit. This next-generation space suit improves mobility and flexibility while keeping astronauts cool during deep space exploration.

Rubio said Artemis III may not have the visibility of touching down on the moon, but the mission still presents a daunting challenge.

"We're going to have three rockets that need to launch the crew and two landers, and then we're going to have to rendezvous and dock with each of those landers," he said. "Each of those landings is going to be affected by both weather and maintenance issues, and so coordinating all that effort in a way that enables us to test the entire system as a whole, it's going to be a challenge."

Rubio, a native of Miami and a former UH-60 Black Hawk pilot, accumulated more than 1,100 flight hours, including more than 600 in combat. The Soldier said that his hand-eye coordination from piloting the Black Hawk, as well as his experience working with an Army copilot and Army crew chiefs, will assist him in performing docking and rendezvous simulations with his fellow astronauts.

A 1998 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, Rubio served in various combat roles, including as a platoon leader and then later as company commander of A Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division.

He also earned his jumpmaster certification as a former member of the Black Knights, West Point's parachute team. Rubio later transitioned to the medical field, earning his doctorate in medicine and eventually serving as a battalion surgeon.

"Operating in very challenging environments, whether it's dust landings, snow landings, multi-ship night operations, I think all of that prepares your brain to stay calm and operate in a variety of environments to include space," Rubio said.