Nasa Administrator Jared Isaacman said people should not read too much into the crew composition.

“I’m kinda mind-blown that there’s no woman on the artemis III crew bro, you as nasa saw so many people hyping up christina going to the moon because it means a lot to people that a woman is doing things that are inspiring, and cool, and you just went ‘nahhh no thanks’,” a user wrote on X. They argued that an all-male crew for Artemis III sends the wrong message at a time when space agencies are working to improve diversity and representation in astronaut selection. “The people who aren’t upset about there being no women on artemis iii don’t understand what it means to see someone who looks like you accomplishing something so special especially after being put down for centuries,” said another. Responding to the criticism, Nasa Administrator Jared Isaacman said people should not read too much into the crew composition. Isaacman said Nasa selected the astronauts it believed were best suited to accomplish the mission’s objectives and emphasised that the decision was based on operational requirements rather than gender. Story continues below this ad The crew includes some of Nasa’s most experienced astronauts. Bresnik has previously flown both the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station (ISS), while Rubio holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by an American, having spent 371 consecutive days in orbit. Parmitano is one of Europe’s most experienced astronauts, having completed multiple missions and spacewalks. Douglas, selected by Nasa in 2021, will be making his first trip to space. The Artemis III mission will launch aboard Nasa’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. Once in orbit, the Orion spacecraft will perform rendezvous and docking tests with lunar landers being developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin. The mission will involve a complex series of orbital manoeuvres and technology demonstrations designed to validate systems that will eventually carry astronauts back to the lunar surface. Orion will first dock with a Blue Origin lander for testing before conducting additional evaluations with a SpaceX Starship vehicle.

Future spacecraft could use a single propellant to perform both rapid movements and slow, highly controlled adjustments.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes fell on Tuesday as a rebound in technology shares faded.

Alphabet entered a cloud service agreement with SpaceX to pay $920 million per month for 200 megawatts of capacity from October 2026 through June 2029.