site.btaSerbia Joins NASA-led Artemis Program

Serbia officially joined the Artemis space program at NASA headquarters in Washington. The accession agreement was signed by Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric, who described the occasion as a historic day for Serbian science.

"By signing the Artemis Accords, Serbia joins the community of nations committed to transparency, interoperability, sustainability, scientific cooperation, and the responsible stewardship of our shared space environment," Djuric told Serbia's public broadcaster RTS.

Artemis is an international program of crewed and robotic space missions led by the U.S. space agency NASA. Its primary objective is to return humans to the Moon and establish a sustainable presence there, Serbian media noted.

Marko Djuric expressed confidence that today's event would create new opportunities for cooperation among scientific institutions, universities, innovative companies, and young researchers.

The U.S. Department of State said that relations between the United States and Serbia are entering a new era.

Also attending the signing ceremony were NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson, Wesley Brooks, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans, International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, Dragan Sutanovac, Serbia's ambassador to Washington, and Marija Gnjatovic from Serbia's Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation.

Brooks thanked the Serbian government for its continued cooperation and for joining the Artemis program.

"Tomorrow, we will hold the first-ever U.S.-Serbia Strategic Dialogue at the Department of State, marking a major step forward in relations between the United States and Serbia," Brooks said.