NASA scrubs promise to land first woman, first person of colour on the moon from web pages

Alexandra Mae Jones · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 25, 2025 8:00 PM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

U.S. President Donald Trump's campaign to destruct diverseness efforts and connection from government organizations has officially reached the moon, with NASA erasing references to its committedness to onshore the archetypal pistillate and archetypal idiosyncratic of colour connected the lunar aboveground from respective of its web pages, citing Trump. 

The abstraction bureau pledged 5 years agone that its Artemis program would execute some goals, portion besides putting the archetypal non-American astronaut connected the moon. 

But references to this person been precocious stripped from NASA's website. 

As precocious arsenic March 14, the main leafage for the Artemis program said: "NASA volition onshore the archetypal woman, archetypal idiosyncratic of color, and archetypal planetary spouse astronaut connected the Moon utilizing innovative technologies to research much of the lunar aboveground than ever before," according to a snapshot taken by the Wayback Machine, an net archive. 

By March 16, that condemnation was gone. 

The abstraction bureau besides deleted a page, also preserved connected the Wayback Machine, advertizing a 2023 graphic caller inspired by the Artemis missions, which told a fictional communicative astir the archetypal pistillate connected the moon. 

Elsewhere connected NASA's website, the connection is inactive determination — a 2023 article astir the Artemis III ngo states it volition "land the archetypal pistillate and archetypal idiosyncratic of color" connected the lunar surface. 

When asked astir these removals, the abstraction bureau confirmed that they were owed to Trump, who issued enforcement orders against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts successful January. 

"In accordance with an Executive Order signed by President Trump, NASA is updating its connection to amended bespeak the halfway ngo of the Artemis campaign: returning astronauts to the lunar surface. NASA remains committed to aligning with White House guidance and ensuring ngo success," a spokesperson said in a connection to CBC News. 

It added "the alteration successful connection does not bespeak a alteration successful unit assignments." 

The revisions to the website come amid a question of companies and authorities organizations eliminating DEI programs and censoring connection that appears to observe diversity. Trump has referred to specified programs, which person historically aimed to rectify inequalities successful hiring, arsenic "discrimination."

NASA, which is simply a U.S. authorities agency, was reportedly instructed to adjacent offices associated with DEI and accessibility successful precocious January, according to Space.com.

The Artemis programme is named for the duplicate sister of Apollo, the Greek deity who provided the sanction for the archetypal lunar missions. 

A full of 24 radical person been to the moon, each white, American men, 12 of whom walked connected the surface. No 1 has acceptable ft connected the lunar aboveground since 1972, erstwhile NASA astronaut Eugene Cernan finished the last Apollo mission.

NASA had initially planned to onshore connected the satellite with Artemis III by 2024, but that ngo has been delayed and is present expected nary earlier than 2026. 

The unit for Artemis II, which is scheduled to orbit the satellite adjacent twelvemonth without landing, is made up of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, arsenic good arsenic Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.