Transcript - Remarks during an industry panel discussion with Artemis II crew members
Remarks during an industry panel discussion with Artemis II crew members
We made the commitment to continue to be part of this. I think a lot of people are suddenly realizing, oh my gosh, that’s great that a Canadian is going to the moon and is part of this first mission that gets back out there after 50 years, but it's not sort of a sudden decision. It’s not something that happened overnight. Canada and the Canadian Space Agency has been an integral partner to NASA and to space missions over the past many, many decades. From, I mean, we talked about Canadarm III, but Canadians were all very well trained whenever we see a picture of the space shuttle doing whatever it is a space shuttle does, we’d always look for it, there's a Canadarm, there’s the little Canadian flag on the Canadarm, because that was our contribution to an extraordinarily important milestone that was the space shuttle.
And then on the international space station, Canadarm II which is up there right now is an integral part of not just assembling, but operating, repairing, continuing the work that it's doing. So, as we talked about the lunar gateway, it was absolutely logical that we’d be saying, yeah, Canada is going to be there with our robotics, the robotic arm, the Canadarm III with the extra twist that we’re going to rely on AI because of the distance. In terms of controlling, there’s going to have to be a smarter Canadarm to do that, but Canada’s a world leader in AI as well. So, knowing that we are a really important key part of a much larger space program is a decision that successive generations of Canadian astronauts, and space agencies, and governments have taken. So, this is a really big moment, but it's only one moment on a relationship that has lasted decades and that will continue to last for decades more as we go back to the moon and beyond altogether.