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Moon mission could boost Canadian health-care, climate efforts: Artemis II astronauts

91Ƶ91ƵWe can do great things together, we can do better as a human race, and here91Ƶs one small example91Ƶ
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Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, centre, participates in interviews with fellow members of the Artemis II crew, NASA astronauts Victor Glover, left, Reid Wiseman, right, and Christina Hammock Koch, not shown, at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, Tuesday, April 25, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Four astronauts selected to orbit the moon say the Artemis II mission can help inform how Canada responds to food insecurity, health-care needs and climate adaptation in the Arctic.

91ƵHow do we actually get eight billion people to row in the same direction and work on these problems? Because these are global problems,91Ƶ said Jeremy Hansen, a Canadian colonel who will join three Americans in space.

91ƵWe can do great things together. We can do better as a human race. And here91Ƶs one small example,91Ƶ he said alongside his crewmates in a Tuesday interview with The Canadian Press.

The mission planned for November 2024 is part of an ambitious plan to establish a long-term presence on the moon, and has NASA hoping Ottawa further boosts its spending on outer space.

The 10-day mission involves slingshotting into deep space for a figure-8 manoeuvre around the dark side of the moon.

If it is successful, Artemis II will mark the first time any human has ventured so far from Earth.

It will also set the stage for another mission planned for 2025 that will include driving a vehicle on the moon91Ƶs surface and seeking materials that could be converted into fuel and building supplies.

Mission pilot Victor Glover said the diversity of the small but highly specialized crew, which includes people of two nationalities, a woman and a person of colour, is a deliberate message to the planet.

91ƵThis is an example of what we can accomplish, the challenges we can overcome,91Ƶ said Glover, who is Black.

91ƵWhen we bring our diverse skill sets together, our countries together, we can do what the president said in your Parliament: 91Ƶbig things,91Ƶ91Ƶ he said, referencing President Joe Biden91Ƶs address to the House of Commons last month.

NASA91Ƶs audit branch estimates the Artemis program, which successfully sent an unmanned spacecraft around the moon last November and plans to have astronauts stay a week on the moon, will cost US$93 billion through fall 2025.

The ultimate later ambition is to install a manned outpost in orbit around the moon.

The crew noted that beyond the positive message of co-operation that the mission sends, there are a range of what Glover called 91Ƶinspirational returns91Ƶ and economic spinoffs.

Hansen argued the scientific research involved in the mission is particularly important for Canadians, as it will gather reams of data relevant to climate change and test out new ways of coping with remote environments.

He said there is 91Ƶsignificant overlap91Ƶ between having a sustained presence on the lunar surface, and eventually Mars, and dealing with some of the problems back on Earth.

91ƵIf we can91Ƶt grow food in the Canadian Arctic, how can we expect to do it on the moon and on Mars?91Ƶ he said.

91ƵThese are areas that we can use the inspiration of space to help us bring real benefits to Canadians on the planet and society in general.91Ƶ

The Canadian Space Agency also sees the mission as a way to advance tech jobs in commercial space robotics, building on the success of the Canadarm series of robotic arms.

Hansen said Canadians must recognize 91Ƶopportunity lies ahead for us, to leverage a program like Artemis.91Ƶ

For decades now, the International Space Station has been the only destination for astronauts. Artemis II will be the first crewed mission to the moon since the final Apollo mission took flight in 1972, and the four astronauts will be the first humans to use the Orion spacecraft, which re-entered earth last December after orbiting the moon.

91ƵWe don91Ƶt have a training plan that91Ƶs laid out, that91Ƶs tried and true and has been done a bunch of times,91Ƶ said astronaut Christina Hammock Koch.

91ƵWe get to invent it as we go, and it91Ƶs incumbent upon us to make it the best that it can be for the future Artemis flyers.91Ƶ

Koch knows a thing or two about what it is like to adjust to being off the planet, having spent 328 days in the space station.

91ƵDown can feel like up. You can literally feel like you91Ƶre moving when you91Ƶre not,91Ƶ she said of the first 48 hours in space.

Yet during that period, her team will be tasked with 91Ƶsome of the most critical mission operations,91Ƶ such as steering the vehicle and measuring its proximity to other objects, she said.

Mission commander Reid Wiseman said the diversity of the mission was a result of choosing who was best for each role.

91ƵThey91Ƶve got outstanding backgrounds and great skills,91Ƶ he said.

Still, the agency91Ƶs head, Bill Nelson, made the point of saying a woman will be among those chosen to walk the surface of the moon when Artemis III gets underway, likely in 2025.

But he did not say whether the first non-American to step onto the moon will be a Canadian.

91ƵIt will be the first woman and the next man to walk on the moon. Any allocation of those assignments is way too early to talk about,91Ƶ said Nelson, a former astronaut.

He noted that the European Space Agency and Japanese Space Agency have both made 91Ƶsubstantial investment91Ƶ in joint programs with NASA.

91ƵEach has flown multiple astronauts with us. Each is increasing their budgets for their space program, and I think we will see a parallel track with Canada as well,91Ƶ Nelson said.

91ƵNow, with Jeremy going to the moon, I think Canada91Ƶs participation is going to increase.91Ƶ

Hansen, the only astronaut on the mission who hasn91Ƶt already been to space, said he wants to show that it91Ƶs possible to go from being raised on a farm in rural Ontario to reaching the dark side of the moon.

91ƵMy message to Canadians is: 91ƵDon91Ƶt keep yourself small.91Ƶ I think we have a habit of doing that,91Ƶ he said. 91ƵThere91Ƶs so much genius across the country to contribute to the world.91Ƶ

He said he91Ƶs excited by what the Artemis missions plan to discover, from monitoring climate conditions to seeing whether the regolith that coats the moon could be used to create structures that resemble concrete buildings.

91ƵWe91Ƶre going to have humans walking on the moon, we91Ƶre going have humans going to Mars and we91Ƶre going to be solving real huge problems on the planet,91Ƶ Hansen said.

91ƵThis is not the pinnacle. This is just one small step.91Ƶ

91ƵDylan Robertson, The Canadian Press

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