Nasa chief defends choice of all-male Artemis III crew

Nasa’s administrator Jared Isaacman on Wednesday defended the make-up 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 US 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 programmes, 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 colour on the lunar surface.