Artemis III: Wrong Hill to Die On

Get your popcorn and hold onto your butts everyone. I’m about to stick my nose into controversy. There will be swearing involved so protect your virgin ears/eyes and clutch your pearls. (This includes you, pageant judges. I will be eloquent but unvarnished.)

Firstly, I want to give a HUGE congratulations to the newly-announced crew of Artemis III. #EarthJoy loading indeed. I am excited for all of them. Being named to a space mission is an historic occasion and career highlight, even for experienced astronauts.

Now to address the elephant in the room, noting that elephants are a matriarchal species. What happened to the women? Women currently comprise 40% of the astronaut corps, what gives? Christina kicked so much ass during Artemis II! All of these things are true. However, we all need to take a step back from our STEMinist echo chamber and look at the overall picture.

Honorable court of public opinion, I submit the following articles into evidence:

1. NASA budget cuts demoted Artemis III from lunar orbit/landing to a somewhat basic low earth orbit (LEO) docking test of Orion with Blue Origin lander and SpaceX pathfinder. That’s it. Orion goes to LEO all dressed up, speed dates, and comes home with phone numbers.
2. Orion may be retired after Artemis III, per proposed White House FY2026 budget. Congress has pushed back and kept the money flowing, for now. I have faith, but I also understand domestic policy. So we have a two-week docking drill on a potentially retiring capsule.
3. Blue Origin’s launch pad was roasted during the New Glenn rocket explosion a few weeks ago. Horrible, major damage sustained, but no human toll, so figure-out-able. Brings into question Blue Origin’s ability to be able to launch the lander for Orion rendezvous. So now we have a two-week docking drill on a potentially retiring capsule, waiting on a lander whose pad just got incinerated.
4. The taxpayer budget covers 100% of NASA funding. Congress writes the budget (through the House and Senate Appropriations Committees), but the White House Office of Management and Budget has repeatedly stated that appropriations are a “ceiling, not a floor.” NASA has capitulated to this enormous pressure by illegally implementing White House budget priorities without waiting for Congressional approval – voluntarily tightening the belt and cutting programs before mama said so. NASA blinked first.
5. The Artemis II mission crew was announced 5 months after Artemis I splashdown, April 3, 2023. Artemis III was formally demoted February 27, 2026. Artemis II splashed down April 10, 2026. Artemis III crew was announced June 9, 2026, less than two months later.

Considering the submitted evidence, NASA likely made a MAJOR pivot in crew selection after February 27, 2026. As a kid growing up working class and attending Catholic school on need-based aid, I learned to “follow the money” every time a perceived injustice was allowed to slide. NASA took the (loud) hint from OMB, which means their powers are reading the political landscape. It’s less potentially damaging to piss off a lot of women in the public sphere than to piss off people with significant budgetary influence. NASA needs Orion and SLS to survive budget cuts to preserve Artemis IV.

Artemis III is NOT going to the moon. It is little more than a “regular” two week space mission; it just has some critical prep work to do, to ensure Artemis IV does not become Apollo XIII redux. (I KNOW APOLLO 13 WAS A SPACE ACCIDENT, JUST HEAR ME OUT.) Therefore, why waste a woman’s opportunity on something so basic? We can all agree that the women of the astronaut corps are most certainly not basic bitches. Better to sideline them here than to deny them a trip to the actual lunar surface.

My take? NASA accomplished two strategic things with this crew selection:

1. Managed upward, aggressively. Even Washington swamp ogres can be placated for a time.
2. Set up the likelihood of 2 women and 2 men crewing Artemis IV, with one of those women being first off the ladder to take the first steps on the lunar surface in over 50 years.

When former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine introduced the Artemis program in 2019, he emphasized its symbolism: after Apollo, Artemis would carry not just the next man, but the first woman, to the Moon. NASA’s own description: “Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo and goddess of the Moon in Greek mythology. Now, she personifies our path to the Moon.” The intent of the symbolism has not changed in the slightest. But our echo chamber is freaking out about a bad paint job when the Temple foundation itself is cracking.

We need to cheer on this crew. They are all badass space cowboys in their own right. They will suss out the good, the bad, and the ugly of crucial operations, in space, with the real hardware, in real time, before we send it to the moon (where the women will show the world how things are done).

–Rebecca
Your big sister, with no more effs to give for not seeing the forest for the trees.