• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

International Co-Operation Could Send Canadian Astronaut to the Moon: Hadfield

Posted on: Friday, 16 July 2004, 06:00 CDT

TORONTO (CP) - Amid a climate of international co-operation in space, and plans to once again put humans on the lunar surface, it's likely Canada will see one of its own on the moon in coming decades.

"It's just a matter of when," said astronaut Chris Hadfield, a veteran of two space shuttle flights and the only Canadian ever to board the Russian space station Mir. When humankind first set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969, it was Cold War politics that propelled America to best the Soviet Union.

Thirty-five years later, it's science that's leading the lunar charge, said Hadfield.

While Canada might not have any spacecraft of its own, the country has managed to contribute cutting-edge technology - and astronauts with specialized knowledge - to the quest of better understanding the universe.

In 1984, Marc Garneau - now head of the Canadian Space Agency - became the first Canadian to travel in space and made two more journeys as a mission specialist. Astronauts Steve MacLean and Dave Williams are already assigned to future missions.

"We are participating throughout human space flight," said Hadfield from the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, where he's chief of robotics. "It's the things we've built, and the reputation we've built, that opens those doors to us."

While returning to the moon does hold scientific interest, it's also seen as a necessary first step toward a manned mission to Mars. The U.S. and China have announced separate initiatives for manned lunar missions by 2020, while the European Space Agency has set 2024 as its target date. Mars could follow a decade later.

"We (Canada) will be participating in all of these ventures, whether they're Russian, American, Brazilian or whatever," said Hadfield, who concedes that given his age - he'll be 45 in August - that "it won't be me who goes."

"We will eventually be recruiting more Canadian astronauts," he said. "Those will be the people that would have a chance to be the next human beings to walk on the moon."

Not surprisingly, there's no shortage of hopefuls.

"Earth, I don't know. It's getting too polluted and all," said Mark Iwanchyshyn. "I kind of want to go live on the moon, on a nice peaceful planet type thing."

The 10-year-old Toronto resident can count two successful missions on a life-size replica of the space shuttle Endeavour among his accomplishments. Contacted while attending the Cosmodome space camp in Laval, Que., Iwanchyshyn said he wants to be an engineer, and is "already working on the plans for a little spaceship."

That's a good place to start, given that NASA is looking to replace its shuttle fleet by 2015 with new craft designed for lunar travel. Currently, the shuttles are grounded in the wake of last year's Columbia tragedy, in which seven astronauts died.

"Travelling to the moon, or travelling in space, there are obviously risks," said Ashley Zwirek. "But for the interest of ourselves and what's out there, you'd want to take that risk."

Sounds like the 15-year-old aspiring astronaut from Montreal has the right stuff. Perhaps she'll be the first Canadian to walk the lunar surface - maybe even the first woman.

"I think that would be great," said Zwirek. "It's a chance of a lifetime. I've been really interested in Mars as well."

It's an ambition the science student is actively pursuing. Zwirek regularly e-mails career questions to astronauts through the Canadian Space Agency website, and attends the annual space day event at CSA headquarters in St-Hubert, Que. That's where - at the age of nine - she first met Hadfield and decided to pursue space exploration.

Coincidentally, that's the same age Hadfield was when he watched the TV broadcast of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon.

"It is the day that I decided to become an astronaut," he said. "Me and 10 million other kids."

Yet Hadfield pulled it off, pursuing a career in engineering and the military to ensure that he was astronaut material. There were no Canadian astronauts to emulate at the time, but that didn't dissuade him.

Now, Canada has six active astronauts cleared to fly shuttle missions. They're also training to live on the international space station, the construction of which has been shared by the United States, Canada, Russia, Europe, Japan and Brazil.

Hadfield, through his work with the Russian Space Agency, is also cleared to fly on their Soyuz spacecraft.

Pretty inspiring stuff for Canada's next generation of space explorers.

"Before I heard of the Canadian Space Agency all I heard about was Neil Armstrong, the moon and that the U.S. has done this and the U.S. has done that," said Zwirek. "Now that I know there's a Canadian Space Agency with Canadian astronauts, it really tells us that we can do this thing too."

At the moment, the U.S., China and the Europeans are working independently of each other in their quest for the moon. But 20 years may be just enough time for humanity to pool its resources and accomplish these tasks together.

"It would be superb to have the crew that walks on the moon next - and the crew that eventually walks on Mars - going there truly as representatives of Earth," said Hadfield. "It sounds trite, but it is a really important historical step in our development as a species and a civilization."

More News in this Category