Space’s agency has expanded its diplomatic reach in recent months, signing 12 of 45 signatories since January

It was a simple pledge made amid the excitement of a landmark moment in space exploration: “We go together,” Bill Nelson, the head of Nasa, promised the world as the agency prepared to launch Artemis 1, its first moon-capable rocket in more than half a century.

Now, nearly two years on from that successful uncrewed mission, and as the US – despite delays – edges ever closer to placing humans on the lunar surface for the first time since 1972, the resonance of Nelson’s message has become clear.