For the first time in 53 years, humans are heading to the moon. “It’s a big step, it’s a big milestone,” says Saint Mary’s University astrophysics professor Luigi Gallo. Apollo 17 paved the way in 1972, landing man on the moon. Artemis II is returning with four astronauts aboard. “In the first day or so, they’ll do a couple laps of the Earth and then it will get launched into the orbit that goes around the moon, and it does do a figure 8,” says Gallo. While their mission is to orbit the moon, the long-term goal is to be a stepping stone for exploration deeper into space. “The underlying theme is really exploration. We do want to go to the moon so we can then go onto explore even larger distances and go out into the solar system itself,” Gallo says. One of the four making the 10-day trip is Canadian, Jeremy Hansen. The global importance of the mission isn’t lost on him. “The other thing we focussed on quite a bit as a crew is listening to other people’s perspective on the moon and how different cultures look at the moon. When we go back, honouring humanity, we all share this same moon in the sky, but honouring humans around the world and how they revere the moon, it’s very important to us,” Hansen says. The Discovery Centre is also on board, sort of. The ‘Mission; Discovery’ show in the centre’s Dome Theatre provides a glimpse at what the four astronauts could see through the use of a moving animation of the inside of a space capsule, looking out. “Now that it’s really happening, most folks want to chat about it and it feels like a big moment that we all get to witness,” says staff scientist Malcolm Van Stralen. It’s a moment that’s even more special after having hosted Hansen at the Discovery Centre to promote the mission. “All the astronauts do such a good job reaching out and getting involved in talking to people. So, we’ve had Jeremy Hansen here before, we’ve had Chris Hadfield here before,” says Van Stralen. Even though they are not landing on the moon this time, if all goes well the plan is for a lunar landing in 2028.
