NASA Revises Artemis Mission Goals

NASA has quietly revised its public messaging around the Artemis lunar exploration program, removing a prominent commitment to diversity that once stood at the heart of the initiative. The change comes as part of a sweeping rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) language across federal agencies.

Until recently, NASA’s Artemis campaign prominently included a pledge to land “the first woman, first person of color, and first international partner astronaut on the Moon” — a landmark promise that symbolized the agency’s evolving values and modern identity. But as of this week, the Artemis website reflects a pared-down version of that message.

Original: "With NASA’s Artemis campaign, we are exploring the Moon for scientific discovery, technology advancement, and to learn how to live and work on another world as we prepare for human missions to Mars. We will collaborate with commercial and international partners and establish the first long-term presence on the Moon. NASA will land the first woman, first person of color, and first international partner astronaut on the Moon using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before."

Updated: "With NASA’s Artemis campaign, we are exploring the Moon for scientific discovery, technology advancement, and to learn how to live and work on another world as we prepare for human missions to Mars. We will collaborate with commercial and international partners and establish the first long-term presence on the Moon."

The omission is widely seen as a response to President Trump’s executive order directing all federal agencies to eliminate DEI-related initiatives and references in policy and communications. NASA, like many government institutions, has since begun a process of realignment with the new administration's directives.

NASA Acknowledges Compliance with Executive Orders

“In keeping with the president’s executive order, we’re updating our language regarding plans to send crew to the lunar surface as part of NASA’s Artemis campaign. We look forward to learning more from [and] about the Trump administration’s plans for our agency and expanding exploration at the Moon and Mars for the benefit of all.” - Allard Beutel, NASA Spokesperson

The removal of the inclusivity language comes despite the fact that the original commitment to diversify lunar astronauts was first made in 2019 — during Trump’s first term — when Artemis was unveiled as NASA’s next-generation program to return humans to the Moon.

For many, NASA's Artemis program represented more than technological and scientific ambition. The inclusion of the first woman and first person of color on a Moon mission was intended as a long-overdue corrective to the demographics of past space exploration.

Between 1969 and 1972, 12 astronauts walked on the Moon during the Apollo program — all white men aged between 36 and 47. NASA’s first female astronaut in space, Sally Ride, did not fly until 1983. That same year, Guion Bluford became the first Black astronaut to reach space. By contrast, the Artemis II crew, scheduled to orbit the Moon in April 2026, includes a diverse lineup:

• Christina Koch, a seasoned astronaut and the first woman assigned to a lunar mission

• Victor Glover, a U.S. Navy captain and the first Black astronaut assigned to a lunar crew

• Reid Wiseman, mission commander

• Jeremy Hansen, a Canadian astronaut making his first flight

Despite this diversity in current assignments, the language change signals an uncertain future for the broader inclusivity goals of Artemis — especially for the upcoming Artemis III mission, set to land humans on the Moon in 2027. The identities of that crew remain unannounced, and it is unclear whether past diversity commitments will be honored or quietly sidelined.

For now, the Artemis mission remains on track — technologically. But its cultural and symbolic trajectory is facing a new era of uncertainty.