Germany has become the latest signatory country to NASA’s Artemis Accords, an international agreement to promote sustainable space exploration.
Walter Pelzer, director general for the German Aerospace Center, signed the accords during a ceremony held Thursday at the Washington residence of German Ambassador Andreas Michaelis. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and U.S. National Space Council Executive Secretary Chirag Parikh were present during the event.
NASA and the U.S. Department of State launched the Artemis Accords in October 2020, a framework that is based on the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which governs the activities of signatory states in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space.
Germany is the 29th country to join the Artemis Accords. The founding signatories are Australia, Canada, Luxembourg, Japan, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and the United Kingdom.
“The German signing of the Artemis Accords gives a further boost to this joint endeavor to carry out programs for the exploration of space. Thus, the Artemis Accords offer a multitude of new opportunities for industry and scientific research in Germany, and ultimately also across Europe,” Pelzer said in a statement.