But money can play a role. Daniël van Beekhuizen of the Netherlands Space Office thinks that too. He expects astronauts from the major ESA countries to have the best maps for a flight to the moon. But at a later stage, the smaller ESA member states certainly also stand a chance.
According to Van Beekhuizen, who represents the Netherlands in ESA’s exploration program, the quality of the candidates is primarily considered. “But there are more factors. It is also important that the final selection of ESA astronauts is representative and diverse, not only in terms of nationalities, but also in terms of the ratio between men and women.”
The three seats on board the Orion capsule that NASA has promised are change for the European share in the lunar project. That project consists of two parts: a small space station that will orbit the moon, the Gateway. There is also the Artemis project. As it stands, NASA’s new lunar capsule Orion will make ten flights to the moon by 2030. The first unmanned lunar voyage is scheduled for November next year.
Europe supplies three important components: two modules for the Gateway and the service module for Orion, which will soon keep the astronauts on course on their way to the moon and provide them with oxygen, water, electricity and heating.
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