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Despite DEI demise, NASA still touts goal to land 1st woman, 1st person of color on moon

Left to Right, Artemis II Astronauts: Commander Reid Wiseman; Pilot Victor Glover; and Mission Specialists Christina Hammock Koch; and Jeremy Hansen; in front of the Artemis II Crew Module during Orion Media Day at Kennedy Space Center, on Tuesday, August 8, 2023. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel/TNS)
By Richard Tribou Orlando Sentinel Orlando Sentinel

NASA’s plans to return to the moon continue to highlight goals of landing the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface even amid the agency’s recent shutdown of diversity, equity and inclusion programs known as DEI under executive orders from President Trump.

“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,” reads the Artemis mission statement on NASA’s website. “We will collaborate with commercial and international partners and establish the first long-term presence on the moon. 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 announcement NASA would send the first woman to the moon was made under Trump’s first presidency.

That plan called for the Artemis III mission to send down two astronauts to walk on the moon for the first time since the end of the Apollo program in 1972. At one point, Trump’s NASA Administrator during his first administration, Jim Bridenstine, said he would not be surprised if that mission’s landing party were to feature an all-female crew.

The declaration that the first person of color would also be among future Artemis landing missions was highlighted after President Biden’s election, although NASA has not committed to say whether or not they would be part of Artemis III or later moon landing missions.

Of the 24 astronauts who have ever traveled to the moon including the 12 who actually walked on its surface, all have been white men.

Already the crew for Artemis II aims to break ground when it flies around the moon without landing on its mission slated for as early as April 2026. As the first crewed mission of Artemis, it will add to the list of moon travelers the first woman (NASA astronaut Christina Koch), first person of color (NASA astronaut Victor Glover) and first international partner (Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen) riding alongside commander NASA’s Reid Wiseman.