Washington (United States) (AFP) – NASA’s administrator Jared Isaacman on Wednesday defended the makeup of the space agency’s latest Artemis crew, an all-male group. The nominations have earned criticism that NASA may have acted in accordance with President Donald Trump’s direction to eliminate diversity and inclusion efforts. Isaacman insisted in a lengthy social media post that the “crew selection does not involve any political appointees.”
“The Astronaut Office assigns the crew that gives the mission the best chance of meeting its objectives, taking into account many factors, including the background and expertise of the astronauts, such as test pilot experience, development work on specific programs, and availability.” The third phase of Artemis will involve testing the Orion spacecraft and conducting rendezvous and docking tests with lunar landers. It will not include a Moon voyage.
NASA had previously committed to put both a woman and a person of color on the lunar surface. Last year, however, NASA removed language regarding that commitment and diversity more broadly from some of its web pages, as Trump directed federal agencies to eliminate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs and references. That doesn’t necessarily mean NASA’s pledge has been scrapped, but it’s no longer explicit.
Isaacman said “those raising this concern may not be aware of the pipeline of crews,” including those “undergoing lunar-specific training that would be a better fit for a future surface mission.” “We have an extraordinary astronaut corps, and every mission and every crew is part of a larger campaign to get America back to the Moon and to build the future we all dreamed about as children.”
The third Artemis crew includes NASA astronauts Randy Bresnik, who will serve as commander, and mission specialists Andre Douglas and Frank Rubio. Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano will represent the European Space Agency as the voyage’s pilot, becoming the first European to join one of the program’s missions. The crew of the Artemis 2 journey conducted this past spring was named prior to Trump’s return to the White House. It included the first Black man, Victor Glover, and the first woman, Christina Koch, to fly around the Moon. Jeremy Hansen became the first Canadian to carry out such a mission, while Reid Wiseman was the commander.
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