NASA drops plans to land first woman, person of colour on Moon After Trump’s DEI order

NASA has dropped its longstanding commitment to land the first woman and person of colour on the moon. The space agency has taken this step in response to President Donald Trump's directives to shut down diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices at US federal agencies.

First woman, first person of colour on the Moon

The promise to send the first woman, and the first person of colour, to the Moon was a central plank of NASA's Artemis programme.

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Artemis is scheduled to return humans to the surface of the moon in 2027. Before this, NASA's Apollo mission in December 1972 took humans to the lunar surface.

Orlando Sentinel reports that previously, on NASA's website, the Artemis landing page included the words: "NASA will land the first woman, first person of colour, and first international partner astronaut on the Moon using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before".

Now, this phrase seems to have gone missing from the page.

NASA statement

In a statement to the Guardian, NASA spokesperson Allard Beutel said that the phrase was removed in line with Trump's order.

"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," he said.

Since Trump took power, he has issued a number of directives against "wokeness". Just days after his inauguration, the Trump administration asked federal agencies to terminate roles and offices related to DEI programmes.

"Each agency, department, or commission head shall take action to terminate, to the maximum extent allowed by law, all DEI, DEIA, and 'environmental justice' offices and positions within 60 days," said a 24 January 2025 memo from the US Office of Personnel Management, referring to jobs aimed at boosting "diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility."

(With inputs from agencies)