This archive report was first published on 25 October 2019.
Published on October 25, 2019, the United States plans to return to the Moon under the Artemis program, with the goal of setting up a long-term colony and testing technologies for a crewed mission to Mars.
Jim Bridenstine, the head of NASA, expressed his enthusiasm for international cooperation, stating, "You can imagine there are going to be a lot of countries to step up to the plate at a level that would say, 'OK, that warrants having an astronaut on the surface of the Moon," at the 70th International Astronautical Congress in Washington.
The European Space Agency (ESA) and Japan's space agency have publicly announced their interest in participating in the Artemis program, with the ESA's partnership based on barter and in-kind contributions.
The next set of astronauts on the Moon is expected to arrive by 2024, with further missions to follow. Bridenstine emphasized the importance of international cooperation, saying, "The goal is to have many different nations living and working on the Moon at the same time," and reaffirmed that the mini lunar space station, called Gateway, will have a lifetime of at least 15 years and an "open architecture," allowing for the development of private landers and missions to the Moon.
