For the first time since 1972, an astronaut is expected to set foot on the Moon — and for the first time in history, that astronaut isn't an American. As reported by USA Today, President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced in a Wednesday press conference that the widely international team behind the Artemis lunar landing mission will see Japanese astronauts take a historic step on the surface of our nearest celestial neighbor.
Emphasizing the two nations' long-held ties in science and education, Biden told reporters "Those ties stretch up to the Moon, where two Japanese astronauts will join future American missions, and one will become the first non-American ever to land on the moon.”
The two leaders met at the White House during Kishida's official Washington visit. While several countries and private companies are currently collaborating with NASA on its Artemis mission, Japan will reportedly be the one to provide and maintain a pressurized rover to support astronauts living and working on the moon. Astronauts are expected to be able to travel further distances and conduct research work for longer periods on the lunar surface with the help of the pressurized rover. The White House also recently instructed NASA to create a lunar time zone, to make such missions more cohesive.
Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on Apollo 11 became the first humans to walk on the moon on July 20, 1969. American astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt — on Dec. 14, 1972 via Apollo 17 — were the last humans to set foot on the moon, concluding the Apollo moon mission. The Artemis mission not only aims to return astronauts to the surface, but to coordinate a long-term plan to use the moon as a potential base for further missions to space, including missions to Mars. While the Moon is a major target for our advancement in space, some experts have said that we are already trashing our nearest neighbor, which could be another indicator of the Anthropocene era.
