France has signed the U.S.-designed Artemis Accords and joined the international lunar exploration program, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday.

France is the 20th nation to sign the Artemis Accords, which were drafted by NASA and the U.S. State Department.

The principles of the accords include peaceful exploration, transparency, interoperability, emergency assistance, registration of space objects, release of scientific data, preserving heritage, space resources, deconfliction of activities and orbital debris.