Israel has signed the Artemis Accords and joined the US-led program to land human beings on the Moon by 2025 and later on Mars, the Israel Space Agency (ISA) said.
The agreement, signed by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and ISA Director-General Uri Oron, sets out principles for cooperation in space exploration and civil use of the Moon, Mars, comets, and asteroids for peaceful purposes, ISA said on Wednesday.
Other members of the program include Australia, Ukraine, Mexico, the UAE, Italy, Brazil, Britain, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Poland, South Korea, and Canada, Xinhua news agency reported.
The signing will allow Israel to join the program in a variety of research and science cooperation, and strengthen commercial and economic collaboration with the space industries of the signatories, according to the ISA.
Israel is part of the uncrewed Artemis 1 mission scheduled for March when an Israeli spacesuit will be tested to protect astronauts from solar radiation.
