Japan to participate in U.S. lunar exploration program

Japan's space policy committee in the Cabinet Office decided Thursday to participate in the U.S. program to land astronauts on the Moon by 2024.Tokyo will notify Washington later this year about the decision by the Committee on National Space Policy.Japan will offer technical cooperation for the construction of an orbital outpost to be used by astronauts as a base for the Artemis lunar exploration program.The committee, however, withheld its decision on whether to take part in building the so-called Gateway, a base housing living quarters, laboratories and docking ports for the exploration …READ FULL ARTICLE