NASA administrator has defended the selection of an all-male crew for the Artemis III mission. He insists the choice was based on mission success and not influenced by political appointees or any directive to reduce diversity efforts.

Nasa’s administrator Jared Isaacman on Wednesday defended the make-up of the space agency’s latest Artemis crew, an all-male group. The nominations have earned criticism that Nasa may have acted in accordance with US President Donald Trump’s direction to eliminate diversity and inclusion efforts. Isaacman insisted in a lengthy social media post that the “crew selection does not involve any political appointees”. “The Astronaut Office assigns the crew that gives the mission the best chance of...