Washington: The Japanese and U.S. governments are set to agree for at least two Japanese astronauts to land on the moon in an envisaged lunar mission, it was learned Sunday.

Japanese science minister Masahito Moriyama is expected to visit the United States in mid-January next year at the earliest to sign an agreement with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson on lunar activities involving Japanese astronauts.

In 1969, humans landed on the moon for the first time under an Apollo mission by NASA. No one from Japan has set foot on the moon yet.

Under the Artemis lunar exploration program, NASA aims to make another lunar landing in or after 2025.

According to Japanese government sources, the signing ceremony is expected to be held sometime around Jan. 17, but the date may change depending on the political situation.

It is unclear when Japan will have its first astronaut on the moon.

The U.S.-led Artemis program has been joined by space agencies from Japan, Canada, Europe and other countries.

In February this year, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said that it had selected Makoto Suwa and Ayu Yoneda as astronaut candidates. The Japanese side is expected to pick candidates for the moon landing mission from eight people–Suwa, Yoneda and six active astronauts.

In the first mission under the Artemis program last year, NASA put an unmanned spacecraft into the moon’s orbit, with the spacecraft later successfully returning to Earth.

In the Artemis program’s second mission, to take place as early as 2024, a manned spacecraft will be put into lunar orbit.

After realizing a lunar landing in the third mission, slated for 2025 or later, NASA aims to conduct sustained activities on the moon.

Achieving a moon landing by Japanese astronauts has been mentioned before by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and U.S. President Joe Biden.

On Wednesday, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris revealed that a non-American astronaut will land on the moon by the end of the 2020s, although she stopped short of going into detail.

JIJI Press