Three European astronauts have been selected to take part in upcoming missions within NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the Moon — and stay there — the European Space Agency (ESA) announced Thursday.
«I have decided that the first Europeans to participate in lunar missions will be a German astronaut, a French astronaut, and an Italian astronaut,» said ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher during the agency’s council meeting in Bremen.
«The first flight will be assigned to a German astronaut,» he added.
ESA is participating in the U.S. program by building components of the Orion spacecraft and providing elements for the lunar-orbiting space station (Gateway).
Among the potential French candidates is Thomas Pesquet, who attended the meeting in Bremen and received support from France’s space minister, Philippe Baptiste.
“This had not yet been decided, and it’s positive news. It means Europe has its place in this long-term adventure, and that France has secured its role within Europe,” Pesquet said.
The year 2026 could mark the return of astronauts to the Moon. After several delays, NASA’s crewed Artemis II mission — with private partners like SpaceX — is scheduled for early in the year, no later than April.
This mission is a key step toward the United States’ return to the lunar surface, an objective announced by Donald Trump during his first term with the aim of returning as quickly as possible — before China, which intends to land astronauts on the Moon by 2030.
Artemis III, the mission set to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972, is planned for 2027 or 2028.