NASA’s plans to return to the moon continue to highlight goals of landing the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface even amid the agency’s recent shutdown of diversity, equity and inclusion programs known as DEI under executive orders from President Trump.

NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen and NASA astronaut Christina Hammock Koch pose for pictures after a news conference about the NASA's Artemis II mission outside the U.S. Capitol May 18, 2023 at Washington, DC. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

For the past week, an uncrewed lunar lander has been journeying through outer space on a 60-day mission to the moon on behalf of NASA.

NASA, an independent agency of the U.S. government, will no longer be upholding DEI efforts. In a press release, NASA shared its plans to comply with executive order “Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions,