International Collaboration Took the United States Back to the Moon

When Artemis II astronauts Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen splashed down in the Pacific following their nearly 700,000-mile Moon circumnavigation journey, their achievement was not America’s alone. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman heralded the crew for “[demonstrating] to the world what America is capable of and our international cooperation is capable of” and traveling “farther from Earth than any humans have ever gone before.” More than a triumph of American ingenuity, the first crewed Moon mission in 50 years was the result of deep and sustained international partnership, propelling the first diverse multinational crew beyond Earth orbit.

How did Artemis II come to exemplify twenty-first-century international space collaboration? The mission’s global DNA can be found both in its shared physical hardware and its governing principles, the U.S.-led Artemis Accords, now signed by over 60 diverse nations.

While some international partners’ contributions to Artemis’s success to date were immediately evident—for example, the Canadian Space Agency—other contributions were perhaps less visible but no less essential. Europe, in particular, is an essential NASA partner in developing key hardware across the five planned Artemis missions. The program’s key physical components include the massive U.S.-built Space Launch System rocket and the Orion crewed spacecraft—known as Integrity—that housed the Artemis II astronauts over their 10-day lunar journey. The European Space Agency developed the European Space Module, which powered Orion out of Earth orbit and provided astronauts with oxygen, water, and temperature control during the mission. Europe will play this same role for each of the subsequent crewed Artemis missions, making international collaboration neither optional nor ancillary, but mission-critical.

Beyond hardware, the Artemis program was, from its inception, deeply rooted in international partnership. Casting aside the Cold War’s zero-sum U.S.-Russia space race, the Artemis Accords were designed in 2020 as a big-tent coalition to achieve big goals collaboratively. Announced during President Donald Trump’s first term by former Vice President Mike Pence (who led an extremely active National Space Council), the Artemis Accords were intended to be the most robust international space collaboration in history. With the U.S.-led coalition now spanning over 60 nations, the Artemis Accords aim to not only launch astronauts to the Moon but to work toward a permanent, multinational human presence on its surface. They also spurred joint scientific research, deep-space communications, and became a key element of U.S. space diplomacy over three presidential administrations. With the Artemis II launch drawing more than 18 million views in the United States alone, that approach has undeniably resonated with U.S. and global audiences.

Yet, the deeply international Artemis project is increasingly at odds with second-term President Trump’s “America First” approach. This includes an apparent pivot away from transatlantic security and traditional alliances like NATO and cuts to both international and domestic program budgets. Six years into Artemis, NASA recently released an accelerated plan for its third, fourth, and fifth missions to reach a lunar landing by 2028, before the end of the Trump administration. It also canceled the long-planned Lunar Gateway program relying on European, Japanese, Canadian, and Emirati space agencies. The new goal—putting more effort toward a Moon base to counter China’s space ambitions—recalls a past era of geopolitical competition and may leave international partners with little to show for their Lunar Gateway investments. At the same time, NASA also faces the possibility of dramatic White House-proposed cuts to its operating budget. While these dynamics may not immediately affect Artemis milestones and timelines, they could profoundly affect NASA’s ability to lead as the world’s preferred partner in civil space exploration.

Following the astronauts’ recent return, Administrator Isaacman appeared to affirm NASA’s commitment to “working with international partners to successfully accomplish [its] missions.” As just the second of five planned missions, and the product of Accords signed by dozens of nations, Artemis II is a shining testament to international collaboration on a physical and intangible level to accomplish the hardest human tasks imaginable. International collaboration with a wide range of partners remains not just a nice-to-have, but an essential enabling condition for success. Even as the United States appears to chart a path alone in most other policy areas, it cannot forget this important lesson.

Lauryn Williams is the deputy director of the Strategic Technologies Program and senior fellow in the Economic Security and Technology Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

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