The Artemis Accords are shared principles for peaceful space exploration led by NASA; India signed on 21 June 2023 as the 27th country.
NASA and the US State Department set up the Artemis Accords in 2020 with seven other founding nations. NASA describes them as a practical set of principles to guide cooperation in space exploration. They build on the 1967 Outer Space Treaty and support other UN agreements such as the Registration Convention and the Rescue Agreement.
By 28 October 2026, when Vietnam signed, there were 78 signatories.
NASA lists the Accords' principles as:
India signed at a ceremony in Washington on 21 June 2023, becoming the 27th signatory. Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu signed for India, and NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said NASA wanted to grow its partnership with India on Earth and in space.
Signing the Accords is not the same as joining NASA's Artemis programme to return humans to the Moon. In March 2025 the government told the Lok Sabha that India is not a participant in that programme, though ISRO will explore taking part in future. India's own plans include the Chandrayaan series and the Bharatiya Antariksh Station. The same reply said an Indian astronaut would fly to the ISS on a joint ISRO-NASA mission with Axiom Space; Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla made that flight in June–July 2025.
Worked example: India was number 27 in June 2023, and the count reached 78 by October 2026. That is 51 new signatories in about 40 months, or more than one country a month.
This page follows Chandrayaan-3's propulsion module: India's own lunar hardware, from a national mission outside NASA's Artemis programme. Track the Chandrayaan-3 propulsion module
How the Accords map onto older treaties. Several principles restate duties from UN treaties:
The sensitive principle: space resources. Article II of the Outer Space Treaty bans national appropriation of space by claim of sovereignty, use, occupation or any other means. The Accords include space resources as a principle. India's Space Policy 2023 takes a similar position, letting companies own and sell recovered resources 'in accordance with applicable law, including the international obligations of India'.
Treaty versus accord. The Outer Space Treaty had 116 ratifications by 1 January 2025 after nearly six decades. The Accords reached 78 signatories in about six years. India's Department of Space describes them as a practical set of principles, guidelines and best practices, which is different from a UN treaty listed for ratification.
Growth rate. From 8 founders in 2020 to 27 by June 2023 and 78 by October 2026, sign-ups sped up after 2023.
On 21 June 2023 in Washington, becoming the 27th signatory.
No. India has signed the Artemis Accords, but the government told Parliament in March 2025 that India is not a participant in the NASA-led Artemis programme.
Any four of: peaceful purposes, transparency, interoperability, emergency assistance, registration of space objects, release of scientific data, preserving outer space heritage, space resources, deconfliction of activities, and orbital debris.