Harris will announce that NASA’s moon landing mission will include a non-American

Benjamin Silverstein, an independent space analyst, said the addition of an international astronaut could improve how the United States and its partners work together in space, enhancing how they “avoid conflict or resolve unintended interference.”

Before Wednesday, NASA had only announced that it would land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon as part of the Artemis program.

The Artemis 3 mission, currently scheduled for December 2025, will include four astronauts, two of whom will land on the moon and conduct scientific experiments. But the mission may be delayed until 2027, according to what the British newspaper “Daily Mail” reported
Report from the Government Accountability Office
.

It is not clear which country will be the lucky one to participate in the trip, but some have expressed interest in recent years. France has been the most progressive about its intentions outside the planet.

French President Emmanuel Macron told Harris: “I have a candidate for you to travel to the moon.”
When he met the husband
At NASA headquarters last year.

The competitor standing next to him was Thomas Pesquet, 44, who was first selected as an ESA astronaut in 2009 and has since gone to the International Space Station twice. Macron specifically said that Pesquet wants to be part of Artemis III.

Artemis 1 was an unmanned Orion space capsule, built by Lockheed Martin, that flew around the Moon in late 2022. Artemis 2 will include a crewed mission flying around the Moon.

It makes sense for Washington to choose a European partner for the lunar surface mission.

ESA already provides propulsion modules for Artemis missions, which allow NASA’s Orion spacecraft to maneuver in orbit. Under the swap deal, these technology deliveries secure Paris-based ESA seats on crewed space missions. However, the deal was not expected to include a place on Artemis III.

“It’s a good next step” then
Addition of Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen
Silverstein told this year’s Artemis II program.

With Wednesday’s Space Council meeting focusing on international partnerships, Harris — who also serves as council president — will make the declaration before representatives from each of the 33 countries that have signed NASA’s Artemis Accords, the non-binding framework that defines peaceful practices in space. It rotates in orbit.

These agreements, which have been the crown jewel of NASA policy over the past three years, conflict with China’s International Lunar Research Station project, which plans to create a coalition of countries to build a permanent base on the moon in the next decade. Several countries, including Russia and Venezuela, have signed the treaty.