MONTREAL — Less than a year away from a historic trip around the moon, Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen says humankind’s upcoming missions to further explore deep space will inspire future generations, just as NASA’s Apollo expeditions sparked his passion.
Hansen will be on board Artemis II, slated to launch in November 2024, the first crewed voyage to lunar space since the final Apollo mission more than half a century ago.
“That picture is still burned in my brain. I went back to that page so many times as a kid to look at it, and the realization that humans had left Earth and walked on the moon was a big deal to me. I turned my tree house into a spaceship and started exploring space in my imagination and just never really gave up on that dream of one day flying out there,” Hansen said in a recent interview.
“Now that I’m here and on the cusp of going into deep space, I see a direct benefit to our youth with this Artemis generation … and I think reminding youth today that we can do big things, we can collaborate, is just so important for them.”
Hansen, of London, Ont., will be the first non-American to travel beyond the lower Earth orbit. His mission involves a lunar flyby, performing a figure-eight manoeuvre around the far side of the moon before returning to Earth. It will serve as a precursor to a mission expected to land the first woman and the first person of colour on the moon in December 2025 or later.
“We probably have more question marks than you would imagine, and that’s because this is a test and development program. You sort of go as fast as you can,” Hansen said. “We don’t kind of have it all done and then we just sit around and wait for a launch date.”
Hansen’s mission will be the first crewed flight of the Orion spacecraft, and the most acute risks — as with any space mission — are during launch and re-entry. Unlike being aboard the International Space Station, which has a shuttle at the ready to return people to Earth, there’s no way to abort the Artemis mission if something goes wrong.
“If you do have an issue, you are a long way from home,” Hansen said. “Potentially once you’ve left to go to the moon, you’re pretty much committed to that eight-day trip. So there are some risks, but they’re really from the point of view of distance.”
Jenni Gibbons, 35, of Calgary, was appointed in November to fill in if Hansen is unable to make the voyage. Her understudy role will give her experience that’s going to position the Canadian space program well for future missions, said Mathieu Caron, director of the Canadian Space Agency’s astronauts, life sciences, and space medicine division.
Gibbons agreed that her role in the moon mission — learning of everything from launch to splashdown — is an investment for future missions. “I certainly think if Canada chooses to invest in boots on the moon, I will be ready, as will everyone at our corps,” she said in an interview.
Fellow Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk, 41, of Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., is slated to travel to the space station in early 2025 on the first mission of the Boeing-built spacecraft Starliner-1. He will spend six months in space
All told, it means a busy few years for the country’s astronaut corps, but Caron said that is a nice problem to have.
“We’re very happy that we as a space agency are confronted with a beautiful problem where we have exciting missions that we have to support almost simultaneously,” said Caron.
There are no plans to add more astronauts, Caron said, and all four current members are medically and technically cleared for a future space mission.
“Our objective is to make sure that our astronauts will be flying,” Caron said. In addition to the two announced missions there will be another Canadian going to the International Space Station before 2030 and one to the Lunar Gateway outpost, a small space station that will orbit the moon.
Canada is contributing Canadarm 3 to the lunar station. It is also helping to build a small lunar rover designed for use on the moon’s South Pole as well as a larger utility lunar rover, said Lisa Campbell, CSA president.
“We’re really excited about both human space flight, but also leveraging the benefits of space for Canada,” Campbell said.
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NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Kenya’s high rates of violence against women have prompted marches by ordinary citizens in towns and cities this year.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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