The space agency's promise was a central to its Artemis programme, which is scheduled to send humans on moon in 2027 for the first time since the Apollo mission in 1972.
Credit: X/@NASA
As a result of US President Donald Trump's directives to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has decided to drop its plan to land the first woman and person of colour on the moon.
The space agency's promise was a central to its Artemis programme, which is scheduled to send humans on moon in 2027 for the first time since the Apollo mission in 1972.
According to a report by The Guardian which quoted a statement on the landing page of NASA's Artemis programmes' website earlier said, "Nasa will land the first woman, first person of color, and first international partner astronaut on the Moon using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before."
The new statement which had no mention of the DEI astronauts, read, "With NASA's Artemis campaign, we are exploring the Moon for scientific discovery, technology advancement, and to learn how to live and work on another world as we prepare for human missions to Mars."
A NASA spokesperson, Allard Beutel, told the publication, "In keeping with the president’s executive order, we’re updating our language regarding plans to send crew to the lunar surface as part of Nasa’s Artemis campaign. We look forward to learning more from [and] about the Trump administration’s plans for our agency and expanding exploration at the moon and Mars for the benefit of all."
The decision was made to comply with several federal agencies which have been following orders to remove anything related to DEI programmes and initiatives, by the Trump administration.
As a result of the orders, the US military has been following a presidential order implementing a ban on transgender people from the service.
NASA's decision is now getting attention as the development of the Artemis programme and the move to land the first woman and person of colour on the moon was planned in 2019 during Trump's first administration.