Japan and the United States will send the 1st Japanese astronaut to the moon

Japan and the United States want to jointly place the first Japanese astronaut on the moon as nations strengthen their ties. Artemis Project, From NASA. US President Joe Biden announced the intention during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on Monday.

Since Neil Armstrong landed on the moon on the Apollo 11 mission 50 years ago, only American citizens have been able to recreate the record. Japan has already expressed its desire to land its first unmanned lunar mission. Until the end of this decade with SLIM Lander.

But the country wants to go beyond the existence of a robot on the moon, and if it depends on the United States, this could happen through the Artemis project. During Monday’s meeting, Biden said the two countries would work together on a US lunar program to send humans to the moon and then to Mars.

The US president said he was excited about the partnership with Japan for the facilities of the Gateway Lunar Orbit Station. Announced early last year. The gateway will serve as a support unit for future lunar missions.

Since Japan’s current space program is dedicated only to missions with satellites and probes, Japanese astronauts had to travel to the United States and Russia to travel to the International Space Station (ISS). However, the Japanese space agency (JAXA) is working to change the situation.

Last year, JAXA conducted its first astronaut recruitment for more than 10 years. Convenient for new candidates to enter, Agency It was discontinued that they must have degrees in the fields of science Since seven of the country’s current astronauts are men, it encouraged women’s participation.

Source: Phys.org