spacetoday.net: NASA selects Artremis Team of astronauts

Posted: Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 6:26 PM ET (2326 GMT)
NASA has selected a group of astronauts who will be eligible to fly on future Artemis missions. NASA announced at the National Space Council meeting that it selected 18 astronauts to be its "Artemis Team" of astronauts who could be assigned to future Artemis missions. NASA has yet to make any formal crew assignments for those missions to the moon, which will start with the Artemis 2 lunar flyby mission in 2023. NASA said it will add more astronauts, from the agency and international partners, as needed in the future. The Artemis 3 lunar landing mission would follow as soon as 2024, but NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine acknowledged at the meeting that without the full funding for the lunar lander program that Congress appears unlikely to provide, it "gets more and more difficult" to keep that schedule.