Santa Monica High Graduate Named Commander Of NASA's Next Artemis Mission

SANTA MONICA, CA — Santa Monica High School graduate Randy Bresnik has been selected to command NASA's Artemis III mission, the space agency announced Tuesday.

Bresnik, a veteran astronaut who considers Santa Monica his hometown, graduated from Santa Monica High School in 1985 before attending The Citadel and serving as a U.S. Marine Corps officer and test pilot, according to his NASA bio.

NASA named Bresnik commander of the Artemis III crew, which also includes European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano as pilot and NASA astronauts Andre Douglas and Frank Rubio as mission specialists.

The Artemis program is NASA's effort to return astronauts to the Moon and eventually establish a long-term human presence there as a stepping stone for future missions to Mars.

Artemis III is scheduled to serve as a complex test flight in Earth orbit. Planned for 2027, the mission will demonstrate how NASA's Orion spacecraft can rendezvous and dock with lunar landing systems being developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin.

NASA said the mission is a critical step toward Artemis IV, currently planned for 2028, which would send astronauts toward the lunar South Pole.

Bresnik previously flew aboard space shuttle Atlantis in 2009 and later spent nearly five months aboard the International Space Station, where he served as commander of Expedition 53.

A retired Marine colonel, Bresnik has logged more than 7,000 flight hours in 95 different aircraft and more than 3,600 hours in space. He currently serves as assistant to the chief of NASA's Astronaut Office for Exploration, helping oversee development of systems that will be used on Artemis missions.

NASA said the Artemis III crew will begin training immediately for the mission.

Artemis III is expected to last about two weeks and will involve multiple launches, docking demonstrations and technology tests designed to pave the way for future human exploration of the Moon and Mars, according to NASA.