Botswana Becomes 68th Nation to Sign Artemis Accords

Botswana signed the Artemis Accords on June 25, 2026, during a ceremony at NASA Headquarters in Washington, becoming the 68th global signatory and the sixth African nation to join the framework. NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson said, "It is my privilege to welcome Botswana as the newest signatory of the Artemis Accords." Botswana's Minister of Communications and Innovation, David Tshere, said, "We have interest in space exploration and found it important to become a signatory to promote safe, transparent, and sustainable civil space exploration." The signing continues a wave of accessions in 2026 — following Morocco, Malta, Ireland, and Paraguay earlier in the year — as NASA leverages Artemis II's success to expand the coalition of nations committed to its space-governance principles ahead of Artemis III.