Italian astronaut to walk on the Moon under new Italy-US space deal

Italy’s lunar ambitions just got more concrete

An Italian astronaut will walk on the Moon, according to an agreement signed in Washington by Adolfo Urso, Italy’s minister for Enterprises and Made in Italy with responsibility for space, and NASA chief Jared Isaacman.

The announcement came from Teodoro Valente, president of the Italian Space Agency, who said in a post on X that the deal deepens the long-running cooperation between NASA and ASI and will lead to both a lunar base and an Italian astronaut stepping onto the Moon’s surface. Subtle, but clearly not the kind of detail either space agency tends to mention by accident.

Valente wrote:

"A long space cooperation, today even deeper between @Nasa and @ASI_spazio, will lead to building a base camp on the Moon and an Italian astronaut walking on the lunar surface. Italian competence and technology open every door of space exploration."

The Italian module becomes part of Artemis

Under the agreement, the Italian Mph habitat module for the Moon becomes an integral part of the Artemis program.

That is the practical detail behind the headline: Italy is not simply showing up for the photos. Its hardware is being folded directly into the architecture of the lunar mission framework.

The announcement was made on March 31, 2026, after the signing in Washington. According to Valente, the deal marks a further deepening of Italy’s collaboration with NASA and places Italian technology at the center of the next phase of lunar exploration.