A Japanese astronaut will be the first non-American to land on the Moon, as part of a US space mission, US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday.
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“Two Japanese astronauts will take part in future American missions, and one of them will be the first non-American to land on the Moon,” Joe Biden said during a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
The latter, on a state visit to Washington, hailed “a tremendous success in the space field”, also confirming that Japan would provide the United States with a lunar rover.
The United States plans to return to the Moon as part of its Artemis program.
The Artemis 3 mission, the first to send astronauts back to the Moon, is planned for 2026.
The Artemis program must send the first woman and the first person of color to the Moon, when the Apollo program took 12 American men there, all white.
They are the only 12 people to have walked on the Moon so far.
