Close X
Thursday, November 14, 2024
ADVT 
National

'Still a good day' despite Artemis delay: minister

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 29 Aug, 2022 02:45 PM
  • 'Still a good day' despite Artemis delay: minister

OTTAWA - Despite the test launch of NASA's new moon rocket being postponed on Monday morning, Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne said it was "still a good day for Canada."

Champagne, who was in Florida for a two-day trip that included meetings with Canadian astronauts and NASA officials, got up at 1:30 a.m. to head to the launch pad in Cape Canaveral only to see the mission delayed.

"Obviously we all wanted to be there to witness history," he told Canadian reporters in a teleconference from Orlando.

But Canada's representation in the broader mission is more important, Champagne said. "If you look at the big picture, what really matters for Canadians and certainly young Canadians is that this time, we're not watching it, we're part of it."

It's been more than half a century since humans last visited the moon, and days or weeks of waiting for this Artemis test launch to proceed won't make that big of a difference in the long term, he said. When the mission does continue, Canada will be "front and centre."

Canada is contributing a new robotic arm, the Canadarm 3, to the Gateway space station that NASA eventually plans to put in orbit around the moon.

A Canadian astronaut is also expected to be on the first manned crew of the rocket, Artemis 2, expected to fly around the moon and back as soon as 2024.

The 98-metre-long rocket's debut flight was scheduled to go ahead Monday morning with three test dummies aboard, but a last-minute cascade of problems culminated in unexplained engine trouble.

As precious minutes ticked away Monday morning, NASA repeatedly stopped and started the fuelling of the Space Launch System rocket because of a leak of highly explosive hydrogen, eventually succeeding in reducing the seepage to acceptable levels. The leak happened in the same place there was seepage during a dress rehearsal in the spring.

The fuelling was already running nearly an hour late because of thunderstorms off Florida's Kennedy Space Center.

Then, NASA ran into new trouble when it was unable to properly chill one of the rocket's four main engines, officials said. Engineers continued working to pinpoint the source of the problem after the launch postponement was announced.

“This is a very complicated machine, a very complicated system, and all those things have to work, and you don't want to light the candle until it's ready to go,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

Referring to launch delays, he said: “It's just part of the space business and it's part of, particularly, a test flight.”

Canadian astronaut David St-Jacques was watching.

"The little boy in me is disappointed. I wanted to see the excitement of a rocket launch, this great new rocket, the beginning of a new era of exploration," he said. "But the sober engineer in me goes, 'phew, glad that someone found that problem and saved us from a bigger problem.'"

St-Jacques said the Artemis program will reintroduce humans to the lunar environment but also ultimately prepare us for missions to Mars. It will create a higher level of confidence for more space exploration. Canada's involvement is "huge for our nation," he said.

He noted that past space exploration has produced widely-used technologies such as GPS, and Canada's current research on space exploration, focused on health and food, will have other applications — for example, with remote medicine or in growing food in harsh Canadian environments.

The next launch attempt will not take place until Friday at the earliest and could be delayed until mid-September or later.

Champagne's office said that it's unlikely he'll be able to attend for the next launch window.

MORE National ARTICLES

Two residences in Surrey riddled with bullet holes after overnight shootings

Two residences in Surrey riddled with bullet holes after overnight shootings
Via release, Mounties say approximately 20 minutes after the initial report of shots fired, police received a second report of a shooting in the 9200-block of 163 Street. Similar to the first incident, responding officers located a residence with damage and evidence consistent with a shooting.

Two residences in Surrey riddled with bullet holes after overnight shootings

Winds make wildfires an erratic adversary: experts

Winds make wildfires an erratic adversary: experts
On Monday, BC Wildfire Service information officer Bryan Zandberg said winds around the Keremeos Creek fire were light, at about 15 kilometres per hour, which allowed firefighters to make good progress building containment lines.

Winds make wildfires an erratic adversary: experts

Elderly woman in hospital after a serious crash in Surrey

Elderly woman in hospital after a serious crash in Surrey
Via release, the Mounties say the elderly female pedestrian stepped off to cross the street was struck by a vehicle heading west bound on 76 Avenue. She was transported to hospital and remains in hospital in serious condition with life-threatening injuries.

Elderly woman in hospital after a serious crash in Surrey

Vernon, B.C., resident looks to recall NDP MLA Harwinder Sandhu

Vernon, B.C., resident looks to recall NDP MLA Harwinder Sandhu
Genevieve Ring says Vernon-Monashee MLA Harwinder Sandhu should be recalled because she is part of the NDP government that has failed residents of British Columbia on the critical issues of COVID-19 and health care. Ring says she is not prepared to wait for the next election scheduled for the fall of 2024 to make changes to improve health care.

Vernon, B.C., resident looks to recall NDP MLA Harwinder Sandhu

Air India starting daily flights between Delhi & Vancouver as of August 31st

Air India starting daily flights between Delhi & Vancouver as of August 31st
As of now only 3 flights are operational between YVR and DEL during the week but flights will be offered every single day at the end of the month. There is increased demand for people to travel after a 2 year pandemic hiatus. 

Air India starting daily flights between Delhi & Vancouver as of August 31st

Suspect charged in Granville Street machete attack

Suspect charged in Granville Street machete attack
A statement from Vancouver police says 48-year-old Ibrahim Bakhit faces three separate charges, including counts of aggravated assault and assault with a weapon. Court documents show Bakhit remains in custody and is due to return to court on Aug. 22.

Suspect charged in Granville Street machete attack