Hines has more than 4,000 flight hours in 50 different types of aircraft. He was chosen to support the crew as NASA prepares for the planned 2027 Artemis III launch.
“It is incredibly humbling, because I don’t think we’ve ever [had one person identified as a backup for every spot on a crew] before in NASA,” Hines said. “To have the organization put that trust in me is really humbling. There’s a lot of responsibility, and I certainly take that seriously.”
The alternate crew role requires Hines to maintain proficiency across multiple crew positions. If needed, he must be ready to take any seat on the four-person crew to support mission execution.
“At least early on in the training, my focus will be on the skills that the commander is learning,” Hines explained. “Then I just need to make sure I’m branching off and understanding all the other crews’ roles and responsibilities as well.”
Artemis III will include multi-vehicle docking procedures between the Orion capsule and new commercial lunar landers. The mission is described as an important forerunner to plans for landing a crew on the moon in 2028.
Hines said the mission will involve several systems still in development. His test and development background is expected to help the crew train for technical issues that may arise during preparation and operations.
“We have the Orion spacecraft, and we’ll be working with two different companies for new lunar landers—it’ll be the first time they will have flown,” said Hines. “We’ll have to learn about those, and then, as we look forward to future Artemis missions, we’ll have new spacesuits to work on the moon with.”
“Those are developmental programs—lunar rovers, habitats, tools, all the things that we’ll be working with on the surface of the moon. All those things will be new and continuously changing, and so that skill set of test and development is valuable,” Hines said.
Hines also brings previous spaceflight experience to the role. In 2022, he piloted SpaceX Crew-4 to the International Space Station and logged 170 days in orbit.
“Being familiar with the logistics of spaceflight will be really helpful, understanding the training profile, but the mission itself is completely different,” Hines said. “On the space station, you’re living and working there for a long duration.”
“It’s more akin to a military deployment. Probably the most valuable part from Space Station will be the interpersonal, inter-crew skills and dynamics, and understanding that in the spaceflight environment,” Hines said.
“In the military, we know how important it is to work in a team and managing those team dynamics.” The U.S. Air Force said Hines’ military background adds to the experience he brings to Artemis III training.
Hines described Artemis as a return to exploration and flight test. He said early Artemis missions require skills associated with testing new systems and operating in unfamiliar environments.
“The amazing thing about Artemis is truly stepping back into exploration, which NASA made its name doing, and exploration, by its very nature, is doing things that no one’s ever done before,” said Hines. “We certainly need all the other skill sets too, but for these early missions, test pilots are front and center.”
“You’ll notice on the prime crew we have two test pilots sitting in the front seats with Randy Bresnik and Luca Parmitano.” Hines’ selection follows a career that began with an aerospace engineering degree from Boston University in 1997.
He then entered the Air Force through Officer Training School. His service as an Air Force pilot includes 76 combat missions in the F-15E Strike Eagle and two other aircraft types.
