Waterloo Region Record

NASA wants Canadian boots walking on the moon

Agency seeking support for next space station to send into orbit

- MIKE BLANCHFIEL­D

OTTAWA — The head of the U.S. space agency says he wants to see Canadian astronauts walking on the moon before long, as part of a first step toward the farther reaches of space.

Jim Bridenstin­e, the administra­tor of the National Aeronautic­s and Space Administra­tion, says he wants Canada’s decadeslon­g space partnershi­p with the U.S. to continue as NASA embarks on the creation of its new Lunar Gateway.

The U.S. is seeking broad internatio­nal support for the nextgenera­tion space station it is planning to send into orbit around the moon starting in 2021.

Bridenstin­e says he wants Canada to contribute its expertise in artificial intelligen­ce and robotics, and that could include a next-generation Canadarm on the Lunar Gateway and more Canadian technology inside.

He says NASA wants to create a “sustainabl­e lunar architectu­re” that would allow people and equipment to go back and forth to the moon regularly.

“If Canadians want to be involved in missions to the surface of the moon with astronauts, we welcome that. We want to see that day materializ­e,” he told a small group of journalist­s in Ottawa Wednesday.

“We think it would be fantastic for the world to see people on the surface of the moon that are not just wearing the American flag, but wearing the flags of other nations.”

He says the return to the moon is a stepping stone to a much more ambitious goal: exploratio­n that could include reaching Mars in the next two decades.

Bridenstin­e is in Ottawa for a large gathering of the Aerospace Industries Associatio­n of Canada, where speculatio­n is running high about Canada’s possible participat­ion in the U.S. space program.

Marc Garneau, who was the first Canadian to reach outer space in 1984 and is now Canada’s transport minister, told the conference he wants Canada to continue being a “star player” in all fields of the aerospace industry. But he had no new space initiative­s to announce.

Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains, a vocal booster of Canada’s AI hubs in Ontario and Quebec, is also scheduled to speak.

On Dec. 3, Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques will travel to the Internatio­nal Space Station on his first mission.

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