Transportation
US, Japan Announce Plans to Send Japanese Astronaut to Moon
- Astronaut would be first non-American on a NASA lunar mission
- US seeks diplomatic support as it competes with China in space
An Intuitive Machines' Nova-C moon lander mission ahead of the Artemis missions.
Photographer: Gregg Newton/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Japanese astronauts will join future NASA lunar missions, President Joe Biden announced Wednesday, a move meant to signal more robust economic and defense ties between the two nations.
In a news conference at the White House alongside Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Biden said that two Japanese astronauts will join future NASA lunar missions, “and one will become the first non-American ever to land on the moon.”