View of planet Earth from space. File photoWASHINGTON, Jun 8France has signed the US-designed «Artemis Accords» and joined the international lunar exploration program, the US State Department said. became the 20th country to sign the Artemis Accord at a ceremony hosted today by French Ambassador Philippe Etienne in Washington,» the agency said in a statement. The United States intends to resume manned flights to the moon in 2024. The lunar program was named Artemis («Artemis») in honor of the Greek goddess of fertility and the moon, the twin sister of the god Apollo, whose name was given to the first US lunar program, in which six manned landings on the moon were made in the 1960s and 70s. of the last century. In October 2020, NASA invited all countries to sign the so-called Artemis Accords, a set of rules submitted by NASA for the interaction of countries in the exploration of the Moon and deep space. The United States emphasized that the proposed principles are based on the principles of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.
