Mexico joins NASA’s Artemis Program

Mexico has joined the Artemis Program, promoted by the United States Government through NASA, for space exploration, which aims to take people back to the lunar surface.

The accession was announced today at an event led by Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon, attended by Infrastructure, Communications, and Transportation Secretary Jorge Arganis Díaz-Leal, and supported by representatives of the Legislative Branch and the National Conference of Governors (Conago), and was welcomed by the U.S. government.

Foreign Minister Ebrard said that the Artemis Program, promoted by the United States, is a sign of the good relationship between Mexico and that country, and that “it had been discussed for several years, but now it is a reality.” He specified that U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris formally invited Mexico to participate in the program in November.

In this regard, Vice President Harris, via Twitter, expressed her satisfaction today with “Mexico's decision to join the Artemis Accords and conduct responsible and sustainable exploration.”

The foreign minister also stressed that Mexico's participation in the program responds to “a convergence on a series of principles regarding space, sustainability, inclusion, peaceful purposes, and participation in design, technology, and projection, as well as being part of the project.” He noted that 50 years ago “we were spectators, now we are going to be participants; it is a big step for Mexico.”

Secretary Ebrard stressed that Artemis “symbolizes the values that identify the countries that are going to participate in this project, of gender equality, of protection for all, of a type of egalitarian society [...] it will have an immense cultural impact throughout the world in favor of gender equality.”

The space agencies of the 13 signatory countries are participating in the program. Among the programs being carried out under the Artemis principles is NASA's project to explore the Moon in the near future.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson thanked Foreign Minister Ebrard today for the decision and said, “Mexico joins a growing number of nations that are signatories to the Artemis Accords. We welcome Mexico's leadership in signing the Accords and working with us to explore space responsibly for the benefit of all.”

For his part, Dr. José Hernández Moreno, a retired NASA astronaut of Mexican origin, expressed his congratulations, saying, “It's great that Mexico is joining the Artemis project, because once again we are going back to the Moon, but this time we are not going to do it as a country [...] we are going to do it as a community.”