The United States continues its crusade against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, with NASA now coming under fire after it quietly removed some specific terms from its Artemis website.
We've already seen Mark Zuckerberg cull DEI initiatives at Meta, while Elon Musk has implored people not to donate to Wikipedia due to DEI spending.
On his first day back in office, President Donald Trump signed the January 20 Executive Order 14151, titled "Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing."
In the aftermath, we've already seen NASA comply, with the space agency scrubbing mentions of minorities, indigenous people, women in leadership, and more.
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There was a vocal outcry from Blue Origin astronaut Emily Calandrelli, who said the only reason she got to make it into space was due to the likes of DEI.
As reported by the Orlando Sentinel, the official site for the Artemis lunar missions has seemingly removed mentions of landing the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon.
There's been plenty of chatter about 2027's Artemis III hoping to land humans on the Moon for the first time since Eugene Cernan last stood there during 1972's Apollo 17 mission.
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Previously, the site read: "Nasa will land the first woman, first person of color, and first international partner astronaut on the Moon using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before.”
The updated version now states: "With NASA’s Artemis campaign, we are exploring the moon for scientific discovery, technology advancement, and to learn how to live and work on another world as we prepare for human missions to Mars."
In a statement emailed to the Sentinel, NASA reiterated: "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.
“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.”
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The first US woman to go into space didn't happen until Sally Ride flew on the Challenger shuttle in 1983, while Guion Bluford had the honor of being the first African American astronaut in space when he also flew on the Challenger later that year.
NASA announced plans to land the first woman on the Moon during Trump's first presidency, and while there are obvious fears this won't be the case, NASA has reiterated to Space.com that there hasn't been a planned change of crew for the Artemis missions: "It is important to note that the change in language does not indicate a change in crew assignments."
Some have noted that all 12 who walked on the surface of the Moon during NASA's six Apollo missions from 1969 and 1972 were white men who were aged between 36 and 47. Artemis II is due to fly to the Moon and back without landing in April 2026, with its four-person crew including one African American man (Victor Glover) and one woman (Christina Koch).
Even though NASA might still be striving to promote diversity, it just sounds like it can't put it down in writing.