WASHINGTON — Angola signed the U.S.-led Artemis Accords outlining best practices for space exploration Nov. 30, becoming the third African nation to achieve this.
The signing took place throughout the visit of Angola’s president, João Lourenço, to the White House to fulfill with President Joe Biden. The signing was mentioned briefly in White House statements concerning the meeting.
In a background briefing concerning the meeting, a senior administration official called Angola an “necessary country” to sign the accords regardless that the country has a small space program.
“Considered one of the hallmarks of President Biden’s administration’s policy towards Africa is incorporating our African partners in crucial conversations that affect the long run of this very decisive decade in space — space norms,” the official said. “And our approach towards how countries behave and operate in outer space is incredibly necessary, and the Africans have and ought to be on the table for that conversation.”
Angola is the third African nation to sign the accords, after Rwanda and Nigeria, which joined in December 2022 throughout the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. Thirty-three countries have now signed the accords, 10 of which have done so this 12 months.
“Angola is already using space-based capabilities to map United Nations sustainable development goals across the country, helping to tackle ambitious objectives equivalent to eliminating poverty and hunger,” Mike Gold, chief growth officer at Redwire and a former NASA official who helped develop the Accords, told SpaceNews. “By signing the Artemis Accords, Angola is taking its space ambitions beyond Earth orbit, while supporting norms of behavior that may result in a peaceful and prosperous future in space for all of humanity to enjoy.”
Angola’s signing comes after a gathering of U.S. and African space industry officials throughout the International Astronautical Congress in October in Baku, Azerbaijan. “It is precisely the sort of outreach that I feel is critical to achieving our goals in space diplomacy on this recent and collaborative space era,” said Valda Vikmanis Keller, director of the Office of Space Affairs throughout the State Department, at a Dec. 1 meeting of the National Space Council’s Users’ Advisory Group.