WASHINGTON—When NASA’s Orion capsule landed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California last week, it marked the end of the historic Artemis II mission. But as NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced shortly after the successful splashdown, sending four astronauts further into space than any humans before them was just the beginning—“the opening act of America’s return to the Moon.” This ambition isn’t new. In fact, NASA has been preparing a return to the lunar surface for years and has actively worked on plans to establish humanity’s first lunar-orbit space station. What is new, however, is that the space agency won’t be moving forward with the project as part of its 2019 Gateway program anymore. Just before the launch of Artemis II, NASA announced that it would “pause Gateway in its current form.” Instead, it intends to shift its focus and resources toward its recently announced Ignition program, which was designed to align with US President Donald Trump’s National Space Policy.
Despite the agency’s “no surprises” policy, this announcement apparently caught some international partners off guard. And not surprisingly so: while many of them invested in Gateway, which aimed to establish an international space station in lunar orbit, the Ignition agenda prioritizes building a US presence on the surface of the Moon. Even more concerning for US partners and allies—including Canada, Europe, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—is the fact that NASA has yet to clarify what role they will play in its new approach going forward.
From Europe to Asia, allies grapple with NASA’s pivot
Among NASA’s international partners, reactions to the agency’s strategic pivot have been mixed, with some indicating flexibility and others openly expressing frustration.
For example, the UAE’s Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, which was tasked with the development of Gateway’s multi-million-dollar Crew and Science Airlock Module, has pledged its continued support under Ignition. But responses from Canada and Europe have been more cautious.
MDA Space, the Canadian manufacturing company that was actively developing a robotic arm for Gateway’s lunar orbit space station under the Canadian Space Agency, has stated that the shift came as a “surprise.” Meanwhile, European Space Agency (ESA) director Josef Aschbacher cautioned that a conversation about ESA’s role in Ignition—and about the consequences for its contracted private companies—must “take place right now.”
Within international partnerships, consistency and clear communication are key. And even though it’s likely that Gateway-related projects will be repurposed, NASA’s international partners are clearly left grappling with uncertainty about how their prior commitments will translate into NASA’s new strategic framework.
Why international collaboration is central to US space ambitions
Addressing this issue should be central to the space operations of US partners and to NASA. After all, a mission like Artemis II—w