Estonia has become the 45th nation to sign the Artemis Accords. The signing ceremony took place in Milan ahead of Italy hosting the 75th International Astronautical Congress this week.
“We welcome Estonia’s signing of the Artemis Accords, which will open the door for more international collaboration,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “This decision also strengthens our family of nations, united by a common cause, and builds on our commitment to explore space for the benefit of humanity under the sound principles of the accords.”
Estonia’s minister of economy and industry, Erkki Keldo, signed the Artemis Accords. Rahima Kandahari, deputy assistant secretary for the US State Department and Canadian Space Agency President Lisa Campbell also participated in the event.
“Estonia is well known as the leading country in e-governance, and it is a great honour for us to enter a next level in space exploration, said Keldo. “We are more than interested to share our knowledge with the global space community to make future collaboration in space exploration a success for humankind. I am sure that joining the Artemis Accords will open attractive opportunities to Estonian enterprises to share their valuable knowledge and competencies.”
In 2020, the United States and seven other nations, including Australia, were the first to sign the Artemis Accords. The accords are grounded in the Outer Space Treaty and other agreements including the Registration Convention, the Rescue and Return Agreement, as well as best practices and norms of responsible behavior that NASA and its partners have supported, including the public release of scientific data.
