The new moon race is also institutional power.
Rome, June 2026. Luca Parmitano’s selection for NASA’s Artemis III mission places Italy and Europe inside the operational core of the next lunar architecture. The mission, scheduled for the second half of 2027, will not land directly on the Moon, but will test key procedures in low Earth orbit for the future return of humans to the lunar surface.
The Italian astronaut from the European Space Agency will join Andre Douglas, Frank Rubio and Randy Bresnik, with Bob Hines named as backup. The crew will conduct complex tests involving NASA’s Orion capsule, docking maneuvers and lunar landing systems developed with private-sector partners.
This matters beyond symbolic prestige. Artemis is not simply a scientific program; it is the construction of a new orbital supply chain, where agencies, contractors and allied states compete for technical relevance. Europe’s role through Orion components and Italy’s contribution to future pressurized modules reveal how lunar exploration is becoming a geopolitical-industrial ecosystem.
For Italy, Parmitano’s inclusion consolidates a national presence in one of the most visible space programs of the decade. For Europe, it confirms that strategic relevance in space no longer depends only on rockets, but on hardware, interoperability, astronaut corps, industrial continuity and access to decision-making tables.
The return to the Moon is not nostalgia for Apollo. It is a rehearsal for infrastructure beyond Earth orbit, where docking, logistics, communications, surface habitation and private participation will define who shapes the next phase of exploration. Artemis III, even as an orbital test, represents one of those quiet missions where future power is assembled before the public sees the full architecture.
Phoenix24: claridad en la zona gris. / Phoenix24: clarity in the grey zone.