More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
The Artemis program will land the first person of colour on the moon, according to NASA. The new goal for the program, which seeks to land the first woman and the next man on at the lunar south pole by 2024, comes from the Biden-Harris administration.
The administration submitted U.S. President Joe Biden's priorities for 2022 discretionary spending to Congress Friday. It calls for an increase of more than 6 per cent from the previous year, according to NASA.
"This US$24.7 billion funding request demonstrates the Biden Administration's commitment to NASA and its partners who have worked so hard this past year under difficult circumstances and achieved unprecedented success," said acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk in a statement.
"The president's discretionary request increases NASA's ability to better understand Earth and further monitor and predict the impacts of climate change. It also gives us the necessary resources to continue advancing America's bipartisan Moon to Mars space exploration plan, including landing the first woman and first person of colour on the Moon under the Artemis program."
Biden's fiscal year 2022 request would keep NASA on track to return humans to the moon while aligning with the U.S. President's "commitment to pursue a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all," according to a NASA release.
While the first cadre of astronauts for the Artemis program were announced in December, the first two crew members for Artemis III in 2024 have yet to be announced. The initial group of 18 represents a diverse team of astronauts, including those new to NASA and veterans of spaceflight.
The Artemis astronauts include Joseph Acaba, Kayla Barron, Raja Chari, Matthew Dominick, Victor Glover Jr., Warren "Woody" Hoburg, Jonny Kim, Christina Koch, Kjell Lindgren, Nicole Mann, Anne McClain, Jessica Meir, Jasmin Moghbeli, Kate Rubins, Frank Rubio, Scott Tingle, Jessica Watkins and Stephanie Wilson.
While it's unknown if a person of color will be among the two first astronauts to return to the moon since the Apollo program in 1972, "these are historic moments in advancing equity for all of humankind," said Bhavya Lal, acting NASA chief of staff.
"Women and people of color represent a significant contributing portion of all facets of NASA's workforce, and the last two astronaut classes selected have included the highest percentage of women in history," Lal said. "Fifty per cent of the 2013 National class was female and 45 per cent of the 2017 class. And today, African American, Asian Pacific Islander, Hispanic and multiracial astronauts are about a quarter of NASA's active astronaut corps."
Lal said the announcement is personally very meaningful to her. She came to the United States at 18 years old, carrying two suitcases full of books and never imagining she would work at NASA in the future.
"If you can see it, you can believe it," Lal said. "So much of what NASA does is inspire the next generation, but in order to be successful in that inspiration, we have to continue to be leaders when it comes to diversity and equity."
That diversity is necessary, not just for mission capability, but across NASA to fuel the big steps the agency is taking to push how humans explore space, she said.
Returning astronauts to the moon will act as a proving ground before sending them on to Mars -- another long-term goal of the Artemis program.
"It isn't a 'flags and footprints' activity like the Apollo program," Lal said. "This is a more sustained presence to help us prepare to get to Mars."
When astronauts explore the lunar south pole, which has never been visited by humans before, they will build on the legacy and science gained during the Apollo program and carry it into a new century.
After the uncrewed Artemis I flight in November, Artemis II will be a crewed flyby of the moon in August 2023. Artemis III will return astronauts to the moon.
In addition to aiding the Artemis program and studying climate change, the President's request would also help further the agency's robotic exploration of space, provide a boost to aviation technology and provide new funding for NASA's efforts to engage in STEM outreach for underserved students, according to the agency.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.
As if a 4-0 Edmonton Oilers lead in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn't good enough, what was announced at Rogers Place during the next TV timeout nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”