NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, representing the United States government, signed a joint statement of intent with Italian Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers Riccardo Fraccaro, representing the Italian government, articulating strong mutual interest between the two countries in pursuing Italian contributions to lunar exploration activities as part of NASA’s Artemis Program. The signing took place during a virtual meeting on Sept. 25.
“Today’s signing represents the latest chapter of successful cooperation between the U.S. and Italy in the area of space exploration,” Bridenstine said. “With a long history of successful collaboration in human spaceflight, as well as in Earth and space science, the Italian government’s strong support for Artemis assures this partnership will extend to cooperation in the next phase of exploration on the lunar surface.”
Through Artemis, NASA will land the first woman and next man on the Moon in 2024 and establish sustainable lunar surface exploration with our commercial and international partners by 2028. Artemis is the next step in human exploration and is a part of NASA’s broader Moon to Mars strategy. Specifically, NASA’s lunar operations will provide the Agency with the experience and knowledge necessary to enable a historic human mission to Mars.
Learn more about the Artemis Accords at:
https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-accords
-end-