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Vice President Kamala Harris announced Wednesday that international astronauts will land on the moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program.
The United States had previously promised to fly international astronauts around the moon in a future Artemis program, but today’s announcement takes that promise one step further, with the possibility that one of them will actually walk on the moon. By allowing them to do so, they will join an elite club. There are only 12 members.
“Today we recognize the important role that our allies and partners will play in the Artemis program and that, alongside American astronauts, we intend to land international astronauts on the moon by the end of the decade. I’m proud to announce this,” Harris said Wednesday during a meeting of the White House National Space Council in Washington, D.C. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan also attended the meeting.
Each planned Artemis moon landing mission has space for four astronauts, but not all of them will walk on the moon. Only two astronauts will touch down to the moon’s surface on each mission, while the other two will orbit the moon either on the Orion spacecraft or on a small space station called Gateway.
“NASA has three opportunities for European Space Agency astronauts to fly to Gateway, one opportunity for Canadian Space Agency astronauts to fly to Gateway, one opportunity to fly to Artemis II, And we are committed to having one opportunity for Japanese (JAXA) astronauts to fly to the Gateway,” a NASA official told CNN. “Since Artemis II, these crew opportunities have not been assigned to specific Artemis missions.”
The Artemis II mission will be the first human mission to orbit the Moon since the end of the Apollo program. Scheduled to launch in November 2024, the crew includes Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, who introduced the vice president on Wednesday.
“NASA could have chosen to do this alone, but we intentionally chose to include Canada and a growing list of international partners. This extraordinary example of U.S. leadership It draws on our collective expertise, which is not only deeply appreciated but also urgently needed in today’s world,” Hansen said.
The first lunar landing mission, Artemis III, is not expected to launch until at least the end of 2025. But that deadline is already in question as the space agency closely monitors the development of the SpaceX vehicle that will serve as the Artemis III lander and carry astronauts to the moon’s surface.
“NASA plans to move specific crew assignments closer to each mission as mission parameters and crew standards are defined,” NASA officials said.