Canadians In Space

From the Globe and Mail:

"Canada could send first astronaut to the moon within two decades"

Canada could be sending its first astronaut to the moon under an ambitious long-term plan being developed by a group of space agencies around the world. A return to the moon within the next two decades is part of the recently updated Global Exploration Roadmap – a far-reaching plan developed by more than a dozen space agencies. Canada is among the 14 space agencies participating in the International Space Exploration Coordination Group, which first started developing the strategy in 2007. An early phase of the plan would put a new space station into orbit around the moon, and use it as a staging point to ferry astronauts back and forth. It’s part of a roadmap that lays out human and robotic missions in the solar system over the next 25 years, with the other components including a moon settlement and a proposal by NASA to capture a near-Earth asteroid. Jean-Claude Piedboeuf, the director of space-exploration development at the Canadian Space Agency, says there’s an agreement among space agencies that returning to the moon is a stepping stone to a more distant target: Mars. There would be human missions in the lunar vicinity and on its surface until 2030, at which point sights would be set on the red planet. The CSA official suggested astronauts could again be moon-bound in about 15 years. It would be the first human visit to the shining orb since 1972, when NASA astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmidt spent 75 hours there. This time, there could well be Canadian visitors. “We’re proposing a vision where Canada could have an astronaut, effectively a Canadian who will be in lunar space, either in orbit or on the moon and could operate a Canadian rover in the same way that Canadians operate a Canadarm on the space station,” Mr. Piedboeuf said. Canada is working to get one of its two active astronauts, David Saint-Jacques or Jeremy Hansen, to visit the space station between 2016 and 2019. The plan would see a small human settlement established on the moon. Astronauts could use it to mine lunar resources, while also learning how to survive away from Earth. The scenario proposes the use of a “Deep Space Habitat,” which would serve as a staging post. The habitat, a sort of mini-space station, could be placed at a so-called Lagrange point near the moon. Lagrange points are locations where gravity balances itself out and where a space station could theoretically be stationary. The recent retirement of the U.S. shuttle program was a critical moment – the end of one era, and the start of the next one described in the Global Exploration Roadmap. Now the Americans and Russians are developing long-range rockets and space capsules, like NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which will be used to send astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit. But it’s unclear whether the way to Mars will actually be led by national space agencies – like NASA, the CSA, the European Space Agency, and the Russian, Japanese, Indian and South Korean agencies.

^ I guess it is good that Canada wants to make a name for itself (for once) with regards to space since up to now it has been the Soviets/Russians and the Americans making all the headlines. ^

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canada-could-send-first-astronaut-to-the-moon-within-two-decades/article13946610/