Artemis II Member Says Moon Cooperation With Russia, China Possible, But Takes Leadership

The United States could do more in terms of cooperation with Russia and China on moon missions but it is up to the senior leaders of the respective countries on whether or not that would happen, Artemis II Member Victor Glover told Sputnik

COLORADO SPRINGS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th April, 2023) The United States could do more in terms of cooperation with Russia and China on moon missions but it is up to the senior leaders of the respective countries on whether or not that would happen, Artemis II Member Victor Glover told Sputnik.

"Do I see a future where we can work together on the Moon? You know, here is one of the most powerful things about human space exploration, humans doing challenging things together, and there is an opportunity, but it takes leadership," Glover said on the sidelines of the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs.

Glover noted that Russia and the US already work together on the International Space Station and that is one of the "best relationships between Russia and America."

"We could do more, but it would take leadership to give and take," he said. "It means America would have to make room for Russia and Russia would have to make room for America. And that is at the very highest levels. And if our leaders could take a lesson from us, I think we would, we'd have a chance at doing it.

So we could but whether or not we will, it's up to our senior leaders."

Glover added that he saw more room for cooperation with China too.

"And we could work with China. Our Congress hasn't told us we can't do anything with China. We can only do specific things," he said.

Earlier in April, NASA officially introduced the Artemis II crew, set to return humans to the surface of the Moon for the first time in over 50 years.

The Artemis mission crew consists of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Hammock Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

Wiseman will serve as the commander of the Artemis mission while Glover, who is expected to be the first person of color to land on the Moon, will serve as the pilot of the Orion spacecraft developed by Boeing.

Koch will also set a new milestone along with Glover as she is set to become the first woman to land on the Moon.

The Artemis II mission will only conduct a flyby around the Moon in late 2024 while the Artemis III mission will land the astronauts on the Moon soon after.