Tokyo is the first of the US’s ISS programme partners, including Russia, Canada, Japan, and the European Space Agency, to prolong participation in conjunction with the US.
Following in the footsteps of ally the United States, Japan will prolong its participation in the International Space Station (ISS) programme through 2030, said Education and Science Minister Keiko Nagaoka on Friday.
In December, the US promised to maintain ISS operations until 2030. Tokyo is the first of Washington’s programme partners—which also include the 11-nation European Space Agency, Russia, Canada, and Japan—to extend participation.
The space station, a football field-sized science lab orbiting 400 kilometres above the Earth, has been continuously staffed for more than 20 years by a cooperation between the United States and Russia.
Just days before to Japan’s announcement, NASA’s next-generation moon rocket launched from Florida on an unmanned mission to launch the US space agency’s Artemis exploration programme, in which Japan is also taking part.
“As a location to test technologies for the Artemis programme, ISS is unavoidable. It serves as a crucial location for Japan-US cooperation,” Nagaoka made this statement during a signing ceremony for a Japan-US agreement on collaboration for a Gateway lunar space station.
According to the agreement, a Japanese astronaut will travel to the Gateway space station, which is being built for the Artemis programme. Japan will also provide batteries and other equipment for the station.
A Japanese astronaut will be part of the programme, including its lunar surface missions, US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida confirmed in May.
In a message read out at the ceremony, Kishida stated, “We will maintain strong cooperation with the United States to actualize a Japanese astronaut’s landing on the moon in the second half of the 2020s, which would be the first for non-Americans.”
