President Joe Biden announced that Japan will accompany the US on its next mission to the moon. Biden revealed that Japanese astronauts will be the first non-Americans to set foot on the moon at a conference with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. "Those ties (between both countries) stretch up to the moon, where two Japanese astronauts will become the first non-Americans ever to land on the moon," said President Biden. 1972 was the last year a human set foot on the moon, but NASA’s Artemis program is set to bring the wait to an end in 2026. Dozens of companies and countries are involved in the mission, which looks to establish a lunar base to help stage future missions to Mars. Japan will provide and maintain a rover to support astronauts living & working on the moon, enabling them to travel farther and work for longer. NASA claims there have been 12 astronauts to walk on the moon in human history. The first two to do so were Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin of the Apollo program, which ran from 1968 to 1972.