New Zealand becomes latest nation to sign space agreement with Nasa

A female osprey and one of her three chicks are seen against the Nasa logo at the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral. New Zealand has announced it is the latest country to sign a space agreement with the agency (Terry Renna/AP)

New Zealand has announced it is the latest country to sign a space agreement with Nasa, just as the country’s nascent space industry begins to take off.

New Zealand became the 11th signatory to the Artemis Accords, a blueprint for space cooperation and supporting the US space agency’s plans to return humans to the moon by 2024 and to launch a historic human mission to Mars.