Nasa yesterday unveiled the four astronauts for its Artemis II mission, the first crewed lunar flyby in over half a century. But behind the celebration, a storm is brewing in Whitehall. British scientists and industry insiders are furious that the UK has been locked out of the prime seats at the table. Sources familiar with the negotiations tell me that HM Treasury has been dragging its feet on the promised funding for the UK's involvement in the Artemis Accords. The result? British astronauts are watching from the sidelines while American, Canadian and soon-to-be-announced international partners take the glory.
I have obtained internal emails from the UK Space Agency that show frantic last-minute lobbying for a British payload slot on future Artemis missions. One senior physicist at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: 'We are being humiliated. The science payloads we have developed are world-class, but without a seat on the crew manifest, we are begging for scraps.'
The Artemis II crew includes Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Canada’s presence was secured through a $1.9bn commitment to the lunar Gateway. Meanwhile, the UK’s total space budget remains a fraction of that. A former senior civil servant at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy told me: 'The Treasury sees space as a nice-to-have, not a strategic asset. They don't realise that when the moon becomes the next economic zone, we will be renting desks from the Americans.'
Behind the scenes, a consortium of UK space companies has been lobbying for a formal 'seat at the lunar table' – a guaranteed number of astronaut slots and science experiments on each Artemis mission. Their argument is simple: the UK is the second-largest contributor to the European Space Agency, yet its astronauts are grounded while ESA astronauts from Germany, Italy and France are being considered for future missions. The disparity is galling for a country that prides itself on scientific excellence.
I have seen a leaked draft of a letter from the Royal Society to the Prime Minister, urging him to 'urgently renegotiate the UK's role in Artemis'. The letter warns that without immediate investment, the UK will miss the window to influence lunar regulatory frameworks on mining and habitation. One source close to the negotiations said: 'The Americans are writing the rulebook on the moon. If we are not in the room, we will be locked out for decades.'
The political optics could not be worse. With a general election looming, the government is desperate to show it can deliver economic growth. But its space ambitions are stuck in low Earth orbit. Labour’s shadow science minister has already called for a parliamentary inquiry into the UK's 'lunar exclusion'. The clock is ticking. The Artemis II launch is scheduled for November 2024. If the UK wants a seat, it needs to write a very large cheque.
For now, Nasa’s astronauts are training. The Brits are watching. And the money men in Whitehall are fiddling while the moon beckons.
