NASA to include European astronauts in Moon missions under Artemis Program

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, during the ESA Council meeting in Noordwijk, Netherlands, on June 15, said that the American space agency will "look forward" to having a European astronaut in the future Moon missions. While Nelson said that there is no timetable for the selection of European astronauts, he confirmed that they will be part of the lunar mission after Artemis 3 in 2025. "What the composition of the crews are after that is all to be worked out and negotiated", he said, as per SpaceNews. "We will look forward to having an ESA astronaut with us on the moon at a future time".

On the other hand, Pam Melroy, Deputy NASA Administrator said during the meeting that astronauts from Europe will likely be selected for Artemis 4. The fourth mission of the Artemis Program does not have a confirmed timeline but it does not involve a Moon landing. Instead, Artemis 4 astronauts will launch to install components of the Lunar Gateway. "We are absolutely intending that an ESA astronaut will support those missions to Gateway", Melroy was quoted saying. This comes just a few weeks after US President Joe Biden confirmed that NASA will send a Japanese astronaut to the Moon.

During the council meeting, NASA also signed two new agreements with the European Space Agency (ESA) to advance their cooperation on Earth science and Artemis missions.

NASA's agreements with ESA

The agencies also signed two agreements, the first of which is the Framework Agreement for a Strategic Partnership in Earth System Science and the second is a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation on the Lunar Pathfinder mission. The first agreement builds on the joint statement of intent Nelson and ESA Director-General Josef Aschbacher signed in July last year and outlines continuity of Earth observations and open data sharing. 

On the other hand, the MoU is regarding ESA's Lunar Pathfinder mission which is being developed by UK-based company Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. As per the deal, NASA will arrange for the delivery of the Pathfinder spacecraft to the lunar orbit from where the spacecraft will provide lunar communication services for assets on the Moon's surface. In addition to this, Aschbacher revealed that NASA has offered to provide help with the ExoMars mission, which was Europe's joint project with the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, and was scheduled for launch in September this year. 

However, this mission was suspended by ESA after Russia attacked Ukraine and Moscow faced economic sanctions from multiple countries. The ESA chief, however, said that the agency is yet to make a decision on the progress of ExoMars but confirmed that Europe may seek NASA's technical help for the mission.