3 NASA Astronauts selected for Artemis III mission have ties to the DMV

WASHINGTON (7News) — Three of the four astronauts selected by NASA for the 2027 Artemis III mission come from a variety of backgrounds, but all have spent time in the national capital region.

For one of its most complex flights to date, the space agency tapped Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio, and Andre Douglas of the U.S. and Luca Parmitano of Italy as part of next year’s test flight that will launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

READ MORE | NASA names Artemis III crew for 2027 Earth-orbit docking rehearsal ahead of moon push

Bresnick, Rubio, and Douglas have all at some point studied at schools in the DMV, according to their NASA biographies.

Douglas, who was originally from Florida, graduated from Western Branch High School in Chesapeake, Va., and in 2021 received a Doctorate in systems engineering from George Washington University. In 2019, he completed his master of science in electrical and computer engineering from Johns Hopkins University.

GW in 2022 spotlighted Douglas after he became an astronaut trainee.

Bresnick and Rubio both hail originally from California.

Bresnick, after being commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1989, studied at The Basic School (TBS) and the Infantry Officers Course (IOC) in Quantico, Virginia. In 1999, he was selected for the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School (USNTPS) at NAS Patuxent River in Maryland, his bio read.

Rubio received his Doctor of Medicine from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md.