NASA chief defends choice of all-male crew for Artemis III mission

Space NASA chief defends selection of all-male crew for Artemis III mission By William Harwood William Harwood CBS News Space Consultant Bill Harwood has been covering the U.S. space program full-time since 1984, first as Cape Canaveral bureau chief for United Press International and now as a consultant for CBS News. Read Full Bio William Harwood June 10, 2026 / 3:08 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, responding to questions about the agency's selection of an all-male crew for the Artemis III mission, said the astronauts were chosen based solely on their experience, skill sets and availability.Isaacman wrote on the social media platform X that "I have seen reactions ranging from disappointment to outrage." One such response on Reddit called the crew announcement "massively upsetting." "Women represent 50 percent of the population," the post read. "They deserve at least one seat on every mission from a government run agency."Isaacman said he had "personally been to space twice with 50 percent female crews. My closest advisors and some of the smartest engineers I know are women. In our latest NASA leadership organization, nearly 50 percent of the center directors and mission directorate leadership are women."He continued: "The last astronaut candidate class selected under this administration was majority female [six women and four men] because they were the best of the best, including one astronaut [Anna Menon] I previously went to space with."During an event Tuesday at the Johnson Space Center, NASA revealed the astronauts who had been selected for next year's Artemis III mission. The flight will test rendezvous and docking procedures in low-Earth orbit with moon landers being built by SpaceX and Blue Origin.The mission will be commanded by Randy Bresnik, 58, veteran of 149 days in space during a shuttle flight and a space station stay. European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano, 49, a veteran of two long-duration ISS...