On Monday, December 12th, SWF held a luncheon panel event in Washington, DC, to discuss the Artemis Accords. A multilateral agreement on several principles related to future space exploration activities on the Moon,the Accords were initially signed by representatives from eight countries in October 2020, with thirteen more countries signing on over the following two years.

The event kicked off with a keynote speech from Pam Melroy, NASA Deputy Administrator, who discussed how the Accords supported NASA's broader goals for returning to the Moon and beyond. Ms. Melroy was followed by Sean Fuller, International Partner Manager at NASA for the Gateway Program, who talked about the link between Gateway and the Accords. Mr. Fuller was followed by a panel discussion moderated by SWF Director of Program Planning Dr. Brian Weeden. The discussion started with Mike Gold, Executive Vice President for Civil Space and External Affairs at Redwire Space, who had previously served at NASA and helped create the Artemis Accords. Mike provided insight into the original goals of the Accords and how the initial negotiations were done. K. Leszczak, a Foreign Service Officer with the Office of Space Affairs in the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs at the U.S. Dept of State, then provided an update on current negotiations, where she serves as the lead. Dr. Masami Onoda, Director of the JAXA Washington DC Office, and Nicolas Maubert, Space Counselor to the French Embassy and CNES Representative in the U.S., both provided their perspective as international partners in the Accords.

A video recording of the event is available below:

For more details, and speaker biographies, please visit the event page.