Ambassador Randy Evans with Étienne Schneider at the US Independence Day celebrations at the embassy earlier this year. The two have held discussions about a potential space cooperation agreement. Edouard Olszewski

Ambassador Randy Evans with Étienne Schneider at the US Independence Day celebrations at the embassy earlier this year. The two have held discussions about a potential space cooperation agreement. Edouard Olszewski

Luxembourg and the United States could potentially enter a space cooperation agreement, and may also be connected by direct flights, US ambassador to the grand duchy Randy Evans has suggested.

In a tweet posted on Tuesday, the embassy said Evans had “had discussions with Deputy Prime Minister Etienne Schneider regarding a potential space cooperation agreement between the United States and Luxembourg.” A follow up statement explained that with the Luxembourg being the first European country and the second worldwide after the United States, to offer a legal framework on the exploration and use of space resources, “we will continue to work together on an issue important to both countries, thriving to build an ‘ecosystem’ whereby space-related commercial ventures will be able to develop successfully.”

In an interview with Delano in August, Evans had said that he had “a personal interest in space” and acknowledged that Luxembourg is perfectly positioned to assume an enormous leadership role in the space sector. “No country can substitute for the stability of the US financial markets, and you can’t go into space without enormous financial backing. On the other hand, we know that Luxembourg is the holder of significant investment assets that are also tailor-made for the same exploration. Put those two together, with a little bit of guidance and leadership, and you’re making the kind of progress that we have to make over the future of our planet,” the ambassador said.

In another tweet on Thursday morning, the embassy pictured Evans meeting minister for sustainable development and infrastructure François Bausch. The tweet thanked Bausch for the meeting and added: “We will work together to make a direct flight connection from Luxembourg to the United States happen!"

Luxair did experiment with direct flights between the grand duchy and the US between 30 March and 1 November 1999. But the connection was pulled after the board decided that it was not becoming profitable quickly enough, despite 97% passenger capacity during July and August. Prior to that, for almost 45 years Icelandair had used Findel as one of its main European hubs and passengers--famously including Bill Clinton and Bill Bryson in their youth--could book cheap transatlantic flights directly to and from Luxembourg, albeit with a short stopover in Iceland.