A historic expansion of the US-Japan alliance

US President Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida announced significant plans. Japan will become part of a larger military alliance — and could put the first non-US astronaut on the moon in 2026.

Tokyo/Washington/Canberra/London. Thursday night's US-Japan summit in Washington ushered in major changes in defense cooperation between the two states.

US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, among others, decided on a new cooperation in the military-technical field, the armed forces leadership and a symbolic gesture in space travel: accordingly, as part of the Artemis project, a Japanese man will land on the moon during the first planned lunar landing in 2026. So far (1969-1972) Americans alone have had a total of twelve. However, the matter may turn out to be more delicate for reasons of respect, because NASA operates Artemis primarily with ESA and some national space agencies such as Japan, Canada, Germany and Israel. Four astronauts fly in the spaceship, but only two of them are supposed to land on the moon, although the Americans certainly will not let them take away their place.