![\"Italian](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/italian-astronaut-luca.jpg\" "\\"Italian")
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Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano will pilot Artemis III.<\/p>\n
Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano is hoping to bring a taste of his homeland to the Artemis III mission he will pilot near Earth in 2027 to test two lunar modules.<\/p>\n
The menu for the Artemis II mission in April featured Texas brisket and tortillas for the Orion spacecraft’s crew\u2014and a jar of Italian sweet treat Nutella was also seen floating by during a live broadcast from space.<\/p>\n
“I do expect something Italian to show up on the menu, and I don’t even have to bring it up because Italian food is a treasure of UNESCO,” Parmitano told AFP on Tuesday, adding, “everybody wants some Italian food.”<\/p>\n
That’s not all the former Italian Air Force colonel brings to the table for Artemis III\u2014part of a series of missions geared toward returning humans to the moon, perhaps as soon as 2028.<\/p>\n
Selected as an astronaut by the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2009, Parmitano has completed two missions aboard the International Space Station, where he carried out complex spacewalks\u2014including a near-fatal incident when his helmet began filling with water because of a failure in the suit’s cooling system.<\/p>\n
![\"Parmitano](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/parmitano-is-proud-to.jpg\" "\\"Parmitano")
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Parmitano is proud to represent Italy in space.<\/p>\n
Responsibility and humility<\/p>\n
As the mission’s lead pilot, Parmitano will share responsibility with commander Randy Bresnik.<\/p>\n
“We are both test pilots, and the spacecraft needs a crew of 2 to fly it, so we share the responsibilities,” Parmitano said.<\/p>\n
“I feel honored that I was chosen for this role,” he said. “It was unexpected because I didn’t know that it was in the running for that position.”<\/p>\n
Parmitano, a 49-year-old father of two daughters, added that he is “also very humbled by the task in front of us. It’s a very complex mission.”<\/p>\n
He proudly wears a uniform adorned with the Italian flag and the ESA patch, and he calls the agency a “strong partner.”<\/p>\n
“When NASA chooses a European astronaut to be a pilot, it is sending a strong message that our leadership is understood, that our cooperation is valued, and that our technical expertise, both in our constructions, because Europe builds part of the spacecraft, but also our personnel, is solid,” he said.<\/p>\n
![\"(L-R)](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/l-r-artemis-iii-comman.jpg\" "\\"(L-R)")
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(L-R) Artemis III Commander Randy Bresnik, pilot Luca Parmitano, astronaut Frank Rubio and astronaut Andre Douglas.<\/p>\n
Multicultural crew<\/p>\n
The crew will be rounded out by African American Andre Douglas and U.S. astronaut of Salvadoran descent Frank Rubio.<\/p>\n
Parmitano said he has known the mission’s commander “for my entire career,” but noted that for Douglas the mission will mark his first spaceflight.<\/p>\n
“We immediately bonded as soon as we found out that we were assigned to this mission,” Parmitano said.<\/p>\n
He welcomes the diversity in ages and backgrounds, saying it “just enriches the crew in general.”<\/p>\n
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![\"Andrew](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/8b33bc1b4d9f6b4c.jpg\")