NASA Has Reportedly Proposed Taking Japanese Astronauts to The Moon

[Judi Lynn]

VICTOR TANGERMANN, FUTURISM
4 JAN 2020

NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine secretly proposed using US rockets to send Japanese astronauts to the Moon, Japanese newspaper The Mainichi reports, citing "multiple sources" familiar with the talks.

According to the paper, Bridenstine made the proposal during an unofficial September 2019 visit in which he met with space industry leaders, including the head of the Japanese government's Space Policy Committee.

Bridenstine reportedly encouraged attendees to consider a future in which Japanese astronauts joined Americans on the lunar surface.

Project Artemis
NASA has some very ambitious plans to return US astronauts to the Moon as part of the agency's Artemis program by 2024, using a research space station in the Moon's orbit called the Lunar Gateway as a stepping stone.

More:
https://www.sciencealert.com/nasa-has-reportedly-proposed-taking-japanese-astronauts-to-the-moon

[Girard442]

1. A joint project sound cool, but why the secrecy?