One Canadian astronaut will be joining a record-setting voyage into deep space around the moon in the second phase of NASA’s Artemis program, expected to launch in 2023.
The major new public-private space program has the ambitious goal of taking humans back to the lunar surface — including the first woman to land on the moon — and keeping them there.
Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains made the announcement on Wednesday, saying the Canadian and American governments have signed a new treaty outlining Canadian participation in the Artemis missions and locking in a seat for a Canadian astronaut on the 2023 launch.
That agreement will make Canada the second country in history to have an astronaut travel into deep space and fly around the moon, and also locks in a second flight for a Canadian to the Lunar Gateway station which is still yet to be built.
READ MORE: Canada poised to unveil ‘significant’ role in upcoming NASA Artemis lunar mission
NASA put the first men on the moon in the 1960s and 1970s but hasn’t returned since.
The American space shuttle program collapsed in 2011 in the wake of the Challenger and Columbia disasters, and a lack of sustained funding for the program and its shuttles.
However, an injection of money and technology from the private sector, as well as renewed political and strategic interest in space exploration, has spurred a major revival in recent years.
The Artemis missions have three core phases: Artemis I, Artemis II and Artemis III.
Artemis I will be an uncrewed maiden flight of the new Space Launch System and the Orion orbiter.
Artemis II, which will include a Canadian astronaut, will be the first crewed test flight of the system and orbiter, lasting 10 days and setting a new record for the farthest human travel from the Earth as four astronauts circle the moon twice before returning to land.
Artemis II, expected to take place in 2024, will launch the first woman and next man to the surface of the moon using a new lunar landing system.
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2020-12-16 15:14:50Z
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