“The Artemis 2 mission should carry a Canadian astronaut”

NASA’s Orion capsule has returned to Earth after a 25-day test flight around the Moon; A successful first step for the Artemis 1 mission, destined for a bright future.

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This is indicated by Olivier Hernandez, Director of Planétarium Rio Tinto Alcan, in an interview with TVA Nouvelles.

“It bodes very well for the future actually, since one of the major difficulties and novelties with the Artemis mission and with the Orion capsule was precisely the return to Earth, which is a little different from the Appolo missions, or the return of spacecraft that launch from the space station to Earth,” Mr. Hernandez rejoices.

Thus a crucial additional step was accomplished with this successful water landing.

“It is actually a bounce in the atmosphere to slow down the Orion capsule precisely before it finally returns to Earth. At this point we have already tested it with small satellites, but it has not been tested with such a large capsule, which is supposed to transport humans,” he explains.

The goal, planned over two years, is to get astronauts into the device by the end of 2024, with one Canadian astronaut on board.

The Artemis 2 mission must carry a Canadian astronaut. We have four available astronauts, including a woman, available to go on this mission, and there is planned to be a Canadian on board for this mission for Artemis 2,” explains Rio Tinto Alkan, Planetarium Director.

However, results are still needed before moving forward.

“We’re anxiously awaiting the results of the current mission to see what data we retrieved, because there were three mannequins aboard stuffed with sensors to figure out exactly how the human body equivalent behaves. So far from Earth. Once we get all that back, we can start, yes or no, So we can accurately send Artemis 2,” explains Mr. Hernandez.

While the Orion capsule was returning to Earth, another space mission, this time Japanese, flew to the Moon, carrying on board Two new Canadian advanced technologies.