Harrington: Where has the excitement about space exploration gone?

By Alan Harrington

February 6th, 2026

BURLINGTON, ON

It was supposed to happen last Friday – four astronauts blasting off to the Moon!

But for safety reasons, the lift-off has been postponed until March 6, 2026.

He wishes. Alan would love to fly in a spacecraft. Best he could do was get a guest pass.

I have tried to talk to many people about this exciting new adventure and have been met with blank stares.

Very few younger people seem to know about it.

Others who remember the last trips to the Moon are indifferent to it.

The last guy to walk on the Moon was Eugene Cernan and that was 1972.

Yes we went to the Moon six times and returned.  The last guy to walk on the Moon was Eugene Cernan and that was 1972.

Twelve Men (and twelve men only) have the distinction of doing something no one else in the history of the Universe has done.

Soon enough those Apollo trips became more dangerous – and expensive.

The lunar adventures barely made the news unless Walter Cronkite needed another 60 seconds to fill air time.

TRIVIA QUESTION: What is the most popular first name of people to walk on the Moon?

Fast forward 54 years to today and “Artemis” is the new program with a plan to put people on the Moon by 2028.

Not just men – but (perhaps) a woman .

As anyone looking at real estate knows – you have to check out the neighbourhood first and four astronauts were to leave this Friday to do just that.

Jeremy Hansen, the Canadian pilot on the Artemis II spacecraft

One of them – (the tallest of the four?) is Canadian Astronaut Jeremy Hansen

Jeremy hails from London Ontario.

A Colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces

One reason the trip isn’t making any headlines is that  (sshhhh) we don’t want that guy in the White House to know there’s a Canuck on board – or he may blow a fuse. Please keep this on the down low.

Jeremy Hansen and the crew will travel the fastest and furthest any human has travelled – as they swing out past the Moon.

The trip is four days out, two days there, and four days back.

They do not land – only fly past – seeing parts of the far side of the Moon no one has ever seen.

Fun fact – the space capsule is like a 4 passenger camper van.

The point of this story is – why is going back important?

Because – back in the 1960s, when the Space Race was on… it created urgency.

It created a demand for scientists, computers, technology, better electronic communication.

Better metals and plastics. Etc Etc Etc

Canada benefited from all of this as we looked to the future and prepared for it.

When it opened in 1989, the SkyDome was the first of its kind: a stadium with a fully retractable roof, imagined almost without precedent. As those who helped build it would probably agree, it was far from perfect – but that’s hardly the point.

Ontario built stuff.  CN Tower, SkyDome, Toronto Zoo, Ontario Place & Cinesphere, Science Centre, Subways

Universities and Community Colleges, airports,

Montreal had Expo 67. We got new baseball teams, hockey teams and Olympics.

The Sky was the Limit.

Since then – we stopped building cool stuff and we let the “formerly new” stuff get old, rot and decay.  And even closed.

Artemis II is scheduled to lift off on March 6 2026

Although the flight has been postponed for a month – we have Olympics and Super Bowl LX to keep us occupied.

On March 6 2026 however – let’s hope all goes well – and Canada returns to Space (where the Sky is NOT the Limit) and we get our country back to feeling good about itself.

Godspeed Artemis II