29 July 2023

On 28 July, the highest authority of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States, former astronaut Bill Nelson, together with the U.S. Ambassador to Argentina, Marc Stanley, visited INVAP.

There, the authorities were welcomed by the General Manager, Vicente Campenni; the Space Business Manager, Engineer Gabriel Absi; the Manager of the Nuclear Area, Engineer Tulio Calderón; and other members of the space management of the company of the province of Río Negro. The Engineer Raúl Kulichevsky, Executive and Technical Director of the National Space Activities Commission (CONAE, in Spanish) was also present.

The purpose of the visit of NASA’s authorities to Argentina is to deepen the joint peaceful space activity between both countries and to formalize our country’s adherence to the Artemis Accords, for the cooperation in the civil exploration and peaceful use of the Moon, Mars and other astronomical objects.

The so-called Artemis Accords are part of the Artemis Program that will lead the next manned mission to the Moon and the first to Mars. The agreements seek to encourage international cooperation in space matters and have 27 countries as signatory members. Due to Argentina became a partner, in the context of 200 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the joint work in the space industry’s peaceful developments is also deepened.

The NASA’s Administrator visit was part of a tour of the region that includes Brazil and Colombia.