The Artemis Accords are about to get their newest signatory.
Latvia is expected to sign onto the non-binding set of principles for cooperation and norms of behavior during a ceremony at NASA HQ this morning. It will be the 62nd nation to sign onto the agreement.
The formal signing makes good on Latvia’s agreement to join the Accords in October.
Reach abroad: The Accords are a vehicle for nations to agree on things such as responsible use of space, interoperability among international hardware, and deconflicting space activities.
A subset of those countries—such as Canada, Japan and some ESA members—also contributed hardware to Artemis, principally through Gateway. But with NASA’s new push to begin building a lunar base and to set up a semi-permanent surface presence on the Moon, some in the space industry are calling for the agreement to go further.
“While I’m thrilled with 61 countries, a third of the world having signed, that’s wonderful. But we need to transition those signatures from supporting norms of behavior, which is important, to making contributions to the Artemis program,” Mike Gold, Redwire’s president of civil and international space, said Wednesday during a panel at Space Symposium.
Gold didn’t address what just happened to Gateway. NASA’s sudden decision last month to pause the station and to pivot to a lunar base left at least some partners in the international consortium wondering where their microgravity hardware would go, although the agency has said there is a spot for them on the surface.
However, Gold also said that it shouldn’t just be major space players working on Artemis. He urged developing space nations who have signed onto the Accords to add to the US-led Moon mission in some way.
“No matter how large your country is, or how small it is, there is a place for you in the Artemis program,” said Gold, who worked on the Accords as NASA associate administrator in the first Trump administration.
More stats: Monday’s signing also means all three Baltic states—Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia—are now signatories of the Accords.
It’s also the third nation to join the group in 2026, after Portugal and Oman signed on in January.
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