As part of NASA’s Artemis program, Vice President Kamala Harris announced Wednesday that an international astronaut will land on the moon’s surface. While the US had previously committed to flying international astronauts around the moon on future Artemis missions, today’s announcement takes that commitment a step further by allowing one of them to walk on the moon’s surface, joining an exclusive club of only 12 members.
“Today in recognition of the essential role that our allies and partners play in the Artemis program, I’m proud to announce that, alongside American astronauts, we intend to land an international astronaut on the surface of the moon by the end of the decade,” Harris said Wednesday at a meeting of the White House’s National Space Council in Washington, DC. The meeting was also attended by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
Each Artemis moon-landing mission will have four astronauts
Each Artemis moon-landing mission will have four astronauts, but not all of them will walk on the moon. Only two astronauts will descend to the moon’s surface per mission, with the remaining two orbiting the moon in either the Orion spacecraft or a small space station called Gateway.
“NASA has committed to three opportunities for European Space Agency astronauts to fly to Gateway, one opportunity to fly a Canadian Space Agency astronaut to Gateway, one opportunity on Artemis II, and one opportunity for a Japanese (JAXA) astronaut to fly to Gateway,” a NASA official told CNN. “Beyond Artemis II, these crew opportunities have not been designated to specific Artemis missions.”
The Artemis II mission will be the first time humans have orbited the moon since the Apollo program ended in 1972. The crew, which is scheduled to launch in November 2024, includes Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, who introduced the vice president on Wednesday.
“NASA could have chosen to do this alone, but they intentionally chose to include Canada and a growing list of international partners. This extraordinary example of US leadership leverages our collective expertise, and it is not only sincerely appreciated, but it is urgently needed in the world today,” Hansen said.
Artemis III, the first mission to land on the moon, isn’t scheduled to launch until at least the end of 2025. However, that timeline has already been called into question because the space agency is closely monitoring the development of a SpaceX vehicle that will serve as the lander for Artemis III, ferrying astronauts down to the lunar surface.
“NASA will make specific crew assignments closer to each mission as the mission parameters and crew criteria are defined,” the NASA official said.