SAMARKAND, Oct. 19 -- Uzbekistan's foreign minister signed the Artemis Accords with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday, Bakhtiyor Saidov wrote on his official Telegram channel, putting Tashkent's name to a NASA and State Department framework for the Moon, Mars, comets and asteroids.

Saidov said the signing followed their bilateral talks and that Uzbekistan became the 77th country to sign. By TEH's arithmetic, that is six countries in 49 days, counting from Turkiye, which NASA called the 71st when it signed on August 31. NASA and the State Department launched the accords in 2020 with seven other nations.

Saidov wrote that the document opens "new opportunities for Uzbekistan to expand cooperation with NASA and the space agencies ...