US Space Agency NASA Formalizes Lunar Gateway Partnership With Canada

Canadian astronauts will be among the first humans to visit the lunar Gateway, a proposed space station orbiting the moon as a transfer point to support a permanent lunar presence, NASA said in a press release on Wednesday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th December, 2020) Canadian astronauts will be among the first humans to visit the lunar Gateway, a proposed space station orbiting the moon as a transfer point to support a permanent lunar presence, NASA said in a press release on Wednesday.

"Under this agreement, CSA [Canadian Space Agency] will provide the Gateway's external robotics system, including a next-generation robotic arm, known as Canadarm3. CSA also will provide robotic interfaces for Gateway modules, which will enable payload installation including that of the first two scientific instruments aboard the Gateway," the release said.

The agreement also marks NASA's commitment to provide two crew opportunities for Canadian astronauts on lunar missions involving the Gateway.

One astronaut would visit the Gateway and a second would participate in the first crewed test flight of the giant Space Launch System rocket being built by NASA, the release said.

NASA recently dropped the proposed lunar gateway from plans to send two Americans to the Moon's South Pole by 2024 in favor or plans to fly directly to the moon, much like the Apollo missions of the last century.

NASA officials have said the Gateway will be needed as a transfer point to support a sustainable lunar program, including a permanent human colony on the Moon.