Numbers of countries are desperate to have their astronauts abroad the lunar missions that the United States is set to launch over the next few years. However, NASA says that their chance to get a ride will be determined by the extent of their contribution to the missions. This was announced by Jim Bridenstine, the chief of NASA on Thursday at the 70thInternational Astronautical Congress held in Washington.
The US, which was the first to land on the moon, has planned to get back to the earth’s only natural satellite with a mission of setting up a long term lunar colony and for testing technologies to carry out a manned mission to Mars. NASA now invites partners from all over the world to participate in the mission.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and European Space Agency (ESA) have announced officially that they want their astronauts abroad the Armetis lunar mission and would like to participate in the mission significantly.
NASA is now sure about the return of the next batch of astronauts back to the moon by 2024 and further subsequent missions are to follow. In a statement, the NAS chief reiterated that they are aiming to have more number of countries involved in the mission. They want to see astronauts from different counties staying and working together on Moon.
At present fifteen nations – including the United States, Canada, Japan, Russia and a number of European counties are jointing working on the International Space Station (ISS) and so far astronauts from 19 different nations have stayed in the ISS. So far as the European Space Agency is concerned, the partnership involves a barter and in-kind system.
The NASA chief reiterated that the mini space station called Gateway that the United States is looking forward to building on the lunar surface will be having a minimum lifetime of 15 years. It is likely to have an open architecture. This means the docking posts communication facilities and the life support of the space station will be open source.