Trump White House drops diversity plan for Moon landing it created back in 2019

That was then. NASA’s landing page for the First Woman comic series, where young readers could download or listen to the comic, no longer exists. Callie and her crew survived the airless, radiation-bathed surface of the Moon, only to be wiped out by President Trump’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion executive order, signed two months ago.

Another casualty is the “first woman” language within the Artemis Program. For years, NASA’s main Artemis page, an archived version of which is linked here, included the following language: “With the Artemis campaign, NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon, using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before.”

Artemis website changes

The current landing page for the Artemis program has excised this paragraph. It is not clear how recently the change was made. It was first noticed by British science journalist Oliver Morton.

The removal is perhaps more striking than Callie’s downfall since it was the first Trump administration that both created Artemis and highlighted its differences from Apollo by stating that the Artemis III lunar landing would fly the first woman and person of color to the lunar surface.

How NASA’s Artemis website appeared before recent changes.

Credit:
NASA

For its part, NASA says it is simply complying with the White House executive order by making the changes.

“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,” an agency spokesperson said. “We look forward to learning more from about the Trump Administration’s plans for our agency and expanding exploration at the Moon and Mars for the benefit of all.”

The nominal date for the Artemis III landing is 2027, but few in the industry expect NASA to be able to hold to that date. With further delays likely, the space agency will probably not name a crew anytime soon.