OREANDA-NEWS. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA, USA) has published an updated plan for the lunar program Artemis. According to the schedule, the first unmanned flight to the Moon will take place in 2021.

“The first mission – known as Artemis I – is on track for 2021 without astronauts, and Artemis II will fly with crew in 2023,” NASA’s message reads. The Moon landing is scheduled for the third phase of the mission (Artemis III) in 2024.

Earlier, the head of Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities, Dmitry Rogozin, said that Russia and China are negotiating the creation of a lunar scientific base and may involve the United States in the project. Prior to that, it became known that the United States is preparing a draft of Artemis Accords, a new international agreement on the extraction of resources on the Moon, which Washington plans to conclude with Canada, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and a number of European countries. It is not planned to involve Russia in the project.