Artemis II soars to lunar heights for future missions, space stations and Mars

Whether it’s astronomers viewing stars and planets through telescopes, or you just watching your favourite sci-fi movie, it goes without saying that our growing fascination with space travel and exploration remains strong as ever.

This year is no different with the success of the Artemis II mission. I, for one, am excited for what this will bring for the future.

Following in the footsteps of the iconic Apollo program that ended in 1972, Artemis II completed its lunar flyby around the moon over the course of 10 days. The mission’s Orion spacecraft launched April 1 from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, making its safe return by April 10 on the California coast in the Pacific Ocean.

This interstellar adventure was due to several space agencies working together, led by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

One of the biggest reasons for my personal excitement for Artemis II is because the Canadian Space Agency’s very own space traveller Jeremy Hansen was part of the Orion crew. Working alongside NASA’s astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, this is Hansen’s first visit to the moon.

It felt like only yesterday that fellow Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield was singing David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” on guitar while in space. Now, it’s Hansen’s turn to make history and with Artemis II’s achievements, we only have more to hope for as he takes Canada to the stars.

From compelling photos of the moon’s surface to waking up to Queen’s and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure,” there’s certainly much to enjoy from discovering the cool details about this mission. What’s just as exciting, though, are the plans and implications for what the success of Artemis II means for Canada.

With Artemis II under its belt, Canada will have even more Artemis missions to look forward to with NASA in the next two years, but that’s just scratching the surface. 

Canada is currently developing the Canadarm3, a robotic dual-arm that will be equipped by 2029 to NASA’s upcoming Gateway lunar outpost that’s scheduled to orbit the moon between 2027 and 2028. This project will be able to do many incredible astronaut-related tasks from assisting with spacewalks to even catching spaceships arriving at the station. 

It’s an interesting parallel that while Gateway also acts as a science laboratory revolving around the moon, the International Space Station is a research base orbiting Earth. The common thread here is that Canada is invested in both fronts. 

These initiatives offer much for Canadians to be proud of, while launching continued interest in space travel and astronomy for multi-generational audiences. The fact that our maple leaf nation will be there every step of the way shows our eagerness to be part of a growing future of space stations, moon landings, and spaceships.

I don’t see the Millennium Falcon being a reality anytime soon, but it’s still fun to unpack Canada’s involvement with space exploration technology.

All this talk of going to the moon and escalating space travel tech leads to Canada’s, NASA’s, and the world’s ultimate goal of a Mars mission. Whether it’s Artemis or Gateway, these programs are extraordinary feats. They are also essentially glorified practice to someday take humans to another planet. 

From my research, it seems that Mars is the Mount Olympus of interplanetary space travel. If we can do this, it evidently means more potential to visit other planets in our solar system — and perhaps even to planets beyond ours. 

Let’s not think too much about the greater universe for now. If we do, aliens will enter the picture — and that will super-exceed this article’s word count.

Let’s focus instead on the success of Artemis II, and, of course, when our astronauts can go to Mars, like Matt Damon did in The Martian.