NASA already has next Artemis flight in its sights following astronauts’ triumphant moon flyby; ARtemis & space: After Artemis II, a look at Canada’s future involvement in space exploration; Think big: Canada should be open to risks as it invests in space, professor says; Canadian astronaut and Artemis II crew returns to Houston
NASA already has next Artemis flight in its sights following astronauts’ triumphant moon flyby
Courtesy Barrie360.com and TheAssociated Press
By Marcia Dunn, April 14, 2026
NASA already has next Artemis flight in its sights following astronauts’ triumphant moon flyby
In this image provided by NASA, The Artemis II crew, clockwise from left, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, Commander Reid Wiseman, and Pilot Victor Glover, take time out for a group hug inside the Orion spacecraft on their way home on Wednesday, April 7, 2026. (NASA via AP)
Never-before-glimpsed views of the moon’s far side. Check. Total solar eclipse gracing the lunar scene. Check. New distance record for humanity. Check.
With NASA’s lunar comeback a galactic-sized smash thanks to Artemis II, the world is wondering: What’s next? And how do you top that?
“To people all around the world who look up and dream about what is possible, the long wait is over,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said as he introduced Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen at Saturday’s jubilant homecoming celebration.
Now that the first lunar travellers in more than a half-century are safely back in Houston with their families, NASA has Artemis III in its sights.
“The next mission’s right around the corner,” entry flight director Rick Henfling observed following the crew’s Pacific splashdown on Friday.
In a mission recently added to the docket for next year, Artemis III’s yet-to-be-named astronauts will practice docking their Orion capsule with a lunar lander or two in orbit around Earth. Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin are racing to have their company’s lander ready first.
Musk’s Starship and Bezos’ Blue Origin are vying for the all-important Artemis IV moon landing in 2028. Two astronauts will aim for the south polar region, the preferred location for Isaacman’s envisioned $20 billion to $30 billion moon base. Vast amounts of ice are almost certainly hidden in permanently shadowed craters there — ice that could provide water and rocket fuel.
The docking mechanism for Artemis III’s close-to-home trial run is already at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. The latest model Starship is close to launching on a test flight from South Texas, and a scaled-down version of Blue Origin’s Blue Origin Moon will attempt a lunar landing later this year.
NASA promises to announce the Artemis III crew “soon.” Like 1969’s Apollo 9, Artemis III aims to reduce risk for the moon landings that follow.
Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart loved flying the lunar module in low-Earth orbit — “a test pilot’s dream.” But there’s no question, he noted, that “the real astronauts,” at least in the public’s mind, were the ones who walked on the moon.
Wiseman and his crew put their passion and feelings on full display as they flew around the moon and back, choking up over lost loved ones as well as those left behind on Earth.
During their nearly 10-day journey, they tearfully requested that a fresh, bright lunar crater be named after Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll, who died of cancer in 2020. They also openly shared their love for one another and Planet Earth, an exquisite yet delicate oasis in the black void that they said needs better care.
Artemis II included the first woman, the first person of color and the first non-U.S. citizen to fly to the moon.
“Wonderful communicators, almost poets,” Isaacman said from the recovery ship while awaiting their return.
Apollo’s manly, all-business moon crews of the 1960s and 1970s certainly did not do group hugs.
For those old enough to remember Apollo, Artemis — Apollo’s twin sister in Greek mythology — couldn’t come fast enough.
Author Andy Chaikin said he felt like Rip Van Winkle awakening from a nearly 54-year nap. His 1994 biography “A Man on the Moon” led to the HBO miniseries “From the Earth to the Moon.”
“It’s amazing how far we’ve come and how different this experience is from back then,” Chaikin said from Johnson Space Center late last week.
The hardest part, according to NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya, is becoming so close to the crews and their families and then blasting them to the moon. He anxiously monitored Friday’s reentry alongside the astronauts’ spouses and children.
“You know what’s at stake,” Kshatriya confided afterward. “It’s going to take risk to explore, but you have to make sure you find the right line between being paralyzed by it and being able to manage it.”
Calling it “mission complete” only after being reunited with his two daughters, Wiseman issued a rallying cry to the rows of blue-flight-suited astronauts at Saturday’s celebration.
“It is time to go and be ready,” he said, pointing at them, “because it takes courage. It takes determination, and you all are freaking going and we are going to be standing there supporting you every single step of the way in every possible way possible.”
After Artemis II, a look at Canada’s future involvement in space exploration
Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press
By Charlotte Glorieux, April 12, 2026
Artemis II is back on Earth — and Canada had a seat on board — but its role in future lunar missions will hinge on how quickly it moves to build on current momentum, said a scientist involved in the Artemis program.
As NASA accelerated its lunar plans in the last few months, Western University geologist Dr. Gordon Osinski said Canada’s contribution will depend on acting quickly.
“If we want to be a part of Artemis, we need to make contributions and be useful,” he said.
That urgency comes after Canada’s successful participation in the program so far. “This gives incredible momentum,” said Caroline-Emmanuelle Morisset, senior scientist in lunar and planetary science at the Canadian Space Agency.
She said the public response in Canada to the mission was striking, calling it “really exciting,” and noting, “We felt that it carried everyone for 10 days.”
But Osinski said the key challenge now is turning that excitement into sustained involvement in NASA’s Artemis program.
“I really hope we capitalize off the excitement and public interest,” he said. “We’ve got to act quickly, not in 10 to 15 years, which is often the case with space projects.”
Looking ahead, Canada is developing a lunar rover, currently in early concept studies and being designed in coordination with NASA’s Artemis architecture. The rover would support both logistics and scientific work on the moon, with a potential launch timeline in 2034, said Morisset.
“We are in a full concept study for a utility rover that would go to the lunar surface,” she said. “We are also working with NASA to integrate it into the Artemis architecture. We are really planning this contribution to the lunar program.”
But Osinski said timelines will be critical if Canada wants to maintain its place in the program. “It’s got to be quicker, otherwise we’ll miss the boat,” he said, adding more need to be done.
”I don’t think that’s going to get us an astronaut seat to the surface of the moon.”
Osinski is already deeply involved in Artemis planning and is expected to play a key role in upcoming surface missions, including Artemis IV — the first crewed landing on the lunar surface in the current program architecture.
His role on the science team will include helping plan astronaut routes and lunar observations for the mission.
“I’m on the science team for what was, until recently, Artemis III, but it’s basically the first surface mission (in the Artemis program),” Osinski said. “It’s a big role.”
Morisset echoed that his involvement is significant for Canada. “It’s quite exciting,” she said, noting he is the only Canadian on the science team.
Osinski said his work on the mission has been underway for years.
“We’ve actually been working already for over two years now,” he said. “I’ve been playing a role in helping to select and characterize potential landing sites on the moon.”
That includes early sample strategy work and planning how lunar material will be processed and studied once returned to Earth and released to the international scientific community.
Beyond mission design, Osinski is also involved in training Artemis astronauts in geology, including classroom work and field exercises at analog sites such as northern Labrador and in Arizona.
“We’re still building the training program,” he said. “I’ll be helping co-ordinate that work.”
He previously helped train Artemis II astronauts using impact sites in northern Labrador, including the Kamestatin Lake crater, a rare anorthosite-rich structure that closely resembles lunar terrain.
“It’s a really unique site, an impact crater, which is the dominant landform on the moon,” Osinski said.
He said the training helped Artemis II astronauts sharpen how they described what they were seeing during their lunar flyby.
“Seeing all the astronauts give really excellent observations to mission control felt really good. I was proud,” he said.
Morisset mirrored that excitement.
“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “From a scientific point of view, they could describe it live. I was blown away.”
—with files fromWilliam Eltherington
Think big: Canada should be open to risks as it invests in space, professor says
Courtesy Barrie360.com andCanadian Press
By Eli Ridder, April 12, 2026
Canadians passionate about their country’s role in space say investments in homegrown astronauts and businesses are vital in inspiring the nation’s future steps to the stars — and the benefits that come with it.
The space sector contributed $3.4 billion to Canada’s gross domestic product in 2024, according to government figures. The federal government has also invested billions of dollars across the sector and positioned itself as a key partner to NASA and the European space effort.
However, Toronto-born astrophysicist Sara Seager, a renown researcher and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says Canada needs to replicate the U.S. approach of “thinking big” when it comes to space.
“I don’t always mean just spending huge amounts of money but making opportunity, taking risks — just executing on what appears to be a crazy idea,” Seager said in a recent interview.
Known for her work as a planetary scientist, Seager earned her bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics from the University of Toronto before moving to the U.S. to acquire her doctorate in astronomy in 1999.
She was granted the honour of officer of the Order of Canada in October 2020 for her work as a pioneer in the study of planets outside our solar system and has led several NASA projects related to her research.
Seager said she’s returning home this September to work for the U of T’s Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, in part, to “help build the momentum in this shift.”
“And, although there has to be money behind the opportunity, it’s part of the culture of trying things, of doing hard things, of doing ambitious things.”
She pointed to Kepler Communications as an example of a homegrown space sector innovation. The Toronto company says its goal is to build stable internet for space that will enable better celestial communications.
But Seager says it’s also important for Canada to invest in those that can inspire others.
Jeremy Hansen, who grew up on a farm outside London, Ont., became the first Canadian — and non-American — to travel beyond low Earth orbit and journey thousands of kilometres to the vicinity of the moon last week.
Those kind of accomplishments have a practical benefit, Seager says, because they inspire Canadians to enter and make advancements in science, technology, engineering and medicine.
“We need inspiration … we’ve got to attract more people and get our pipeline, our workflow, our people getting trained to work in STEM fields,” she added.
Zainab Azim’s father said he wanted her and her brother to be the youngest ever astronauts when he spent half a million dollars in 2014 to secure a seat for them on a commercial space flight.
Azim, then 11 years old, told CBC News from her hometown of Milton, Ont., that one of her career goals was to be an astronaut.
Now age 23, Azim says she still has her $250,000 Virgin Galactic ticket and wouldn’t turn down donning a space suit like Capt. Chris Hadfield, one of her inspirations.
But Azim, who teaches economics policy as a teaching fellow at Harvard University, says she’s shifted her focus to advocating for equality and opportunity in STEM fields.
“It shouldn’t just be based on luck of where you’re born and having a supportive infrastructure around you,” said Azim, who was previously a mentor with the UN’s Space for Women initiative.
“You should be able to pursue those opportunities if you wanna do it for the right reasons in this country.”
Azim, who recently moved back to Canada, said the key driver to funding space advancements should be the positive symptoms it provides to humanity, as opposed to intergalactic conquest.
“We have these satellite systems because of our space programs that can identify where is the best place to grow these crops, to increase the yield so that we can feed more people,” she said.
“That is a direct benefit of space for people on Earth.”
Azim added the Artemis II program was an example of space diplomacy that Canada needs to remain a part of.
“The U.S. is literally talking about annexing Canada and we were able to work on a mission together to get people back to the moon,” she said, referencing U.S. President Donald Trump’s previous threats to make Canada the 51st state.
“It shows what is possible.”
In a recent major investment in the domestic space sector, the federal government in March announced it was putting $200 million toward a Canadian-owned launch pad that will send satellites into orbit.
A 10-year lease of Maritime Launch Services’ infrastructure will give Canada the ability for the first time to launch space projects on its own. The launchpad in Canso, N.S., is expected to be operational by the end of 2026, according to the company, while Ottawa is targeting 2028 for domestic launch capability.
Sarah McLean, vice president of corporate affairs for Maritime Launch, says having space independence enabled by companies like her own is critical for Canada’s cosmic future.
“Humanity engages with space on a daily basis — whether we’re picking up our iPhone or doing banking, monitoring weather, making weather predictions,” McLean said.
“So investing, whether it’s time or money in space is no longer optional, it’s necessary and strategic.”
Seager, whose research has contributed to the search for alien life, says Canada needs to remain involved in both exploratory space travel and the business sector that supports it.
“Where the space is economy is going, we don’t exactly know. But it’s definitely going somewhere and we want to be a part of it.”
Canadian astronaut and Artemis II crew returns to Houston
Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press
By Canadian Press Staff, April 11, 2026
Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen and his crew members received a standing ovation as they were welcomed back in Houston after splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on Friday, concluding the Artemis II mission.
Hansen expressed gratitude for his family, NASA, and the Canadian Space Agency. He said in French: ”I’m excited to come back to Canada with Reid, Christina, and Victor.”
Still marvelling over their record-breaking lunar fly-around, the crew of four flew to Houston’s Ellington Field from San Diego on Saturday afternoon.
After a quick reunion with their families, the astronauts took the stage, surrounded by hundreds who took part in NASA’s historic lunar comeback.
‘’What you saw was a group of people who love contributing,’’ said Hansen, speaking on the level of commitment of the Artemis II crew.
Canadian Space Agency president Lisa Campbell hugged all four astronauts before she expressed how proud she was of Hansen and his crew members.
”You’ve represented the very best of what it represents to be Canadian,” she said about Hansen.
NASA’s Johnson Space Center director, Vanessa Wyche, said that beyond the data, the mission highlighted the connection between humans.
As the four astronauts stood side by side, linked arm in arm, Hansen said, ”When you look up here, we are a mirror reflecting you, this is you.’’
‘’It’s a special thing to be a human, and it’s a special thing to be on planet Earth,’’ said Commander Reid Wiseman.
‘’The start and the end were human moments on Earth,’’ said American astronaut Christina Koch. She spoke briefly about understanding new levels of the word ”crew,” concluding by saying ‘’Planet Earth, you are a crew.’’
The crew accomplished many milestones on their 10-day mission, surpassing the Apollo 13 record for farthest crewed space flight from Earth and observing the lunar surface like never before.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 11, 2026.
–with files from the Associated Press