Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa waves from inside a bus prior to boarding the Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft ahead of the launch at the Baikonur cosmodrome on Dec 8, 2021. (KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV / POOL / AFP)
TOKYO – Japan revised the schedule of its space exploration plans on Tuesday, aiming to put a Japanese person on the moon by the latter half of the 2020s.
According to the draft schedule of the plan, Japan aims to put the first non-American on the moon as part of the Artemis program, a US-led initiative that aims to return astronauts to the moon
"Not only is space a frontier that gives people hopes and dreams but it also provides a crucial foundation to our economic society with respect to our economic security," Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told a meeting to finalize the plan.
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According to the draft schedule of the plan, Japan aims to put the first non-American on the moon as part of the Artemis program, a US-led initiative that aims to return astronauts to the moon.
The plan also spells out Japan's aspirations to launch a probe to explore Mars in 2024, as well as to find ways to generate solar electricity in space.
Japan's announcement of its space exploration targets comes a week after Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa returned to earth after spending 12 days aboard the International Space Station, becoming the first space tourist to travel to the ISS in more than a decade.