NASA administrator Jared Isaacman has announced that the agency will be more selective about international partnerships, shifting away from what he describes as agreements made "just to make everyone happy." The shift reflects the intensifying competition for the Moon's south pole, which contains valuable water ice and sunlight access critical for establishing a permanent lunar base and training for Mars missions. With China and Russia planning similar missions to these limited strategic locations, Isaacman emphasised that NASA now prioritises only "good deals" where partners make meaningful contributions to the mission rather than simply joining for symbolic purposes.

Under this new approach, NASA has formed partnerships with Italy and Japan. Italy committed over £4 billion towards developing habitation modules for the lunar surface, whilst Japan pledged multibillion pounds for a pressurised rover to transport astronauts across the Moon. In both cases, the contributing nations earn places for their astronauts on the lunar surface—two for Italy and two for Japan. Isaacman made clear that partners must contribute meaningfully and avoid competing with American interests, setting expectations that future international collaborations will follow this transactional model rather than the previous approach of maximising political symbolism.