Vice President announces first international astronaut to land on the Moon through Artemis

At a meeting of the National Space Council in Washington, DC, Vice President Kamala Harris announced an international astronaut will land on the Moon through Artemis before the end of the decade.

More than just the US will be Moonwalkers

Vice President Harris spoke at the Wednesday’s National Space Council meeting with an announcement many of us saw coming for a while now. “I am proud, then, 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,” the Vice President shared.

Still, after more than half a century, NASA astronauts have been the only few to walk on the Moon. I’m sure that statement surprised only a few of you. With the Artemis Program moving forward, its goal has been to return to the Moon to stay. A key way to achieve that outside of lowering coasts, is to do it with international partners.

Jermey Hansen, an astronaut from the Canadian Space Agency, is joining the three NASA astronauts on the Artemis 2 mission. Hansen opened the NSpC meeting speaking about the pros of international cooperation and introduced the Vice President to then make her announcement. While Artemis 2 won’t be landing on the Moon, Hansen will become the first non-NASA astronaut to travel to our closest neighbor.

It was expected to eventually have another international astronaut, maybe from Europe or Japan, eventually join a future Artemis mission but now we have a deadline, “by the end of the decade.”

So that doesn’t mean one will join the crew on Artemis 3, the first lunar landing of the program. So far no astronauts have been assigned to that mission and we likely won’t know until after Artemis 2 or at least closer to that launch.

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China also pushing to land on the Moon soon

The US isn’t the only country attempting to build out international partnerships for landing on the Moon. China, a country that was brought up extensively during the NSpC meeting, is hoping to land one of their astronauts on the Moon in the 2030s.

So if you’re one of the counties that have partnered with NASA for heading to the Moon, you are probably safe from being beat by China. Although, you’re not safe from NASA timelines possibly delaying missions closer than many of us would like.

While NASA will say there is no real “space race” taking place between the US and China, as NASA is “returning” to the Moon, not going there for the first time. If you listen to any political speech by pretty much anyone, China is always brought up and if the topic moves to space, they mention how important it is for the US to remain ahead.

The next decade will be a historical moment for the space history books as we attempt to compare what China does in secret to NASA’s more public missions. While a direct comparison might not be fare, both programs have similar goals, land on the Moon and build a base. A reality only seen in fictional TV shows or movies, might become nonfiction soon.