Astronaut advocates for lunar mission during Saskatoon stop

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Missions to the moon — not Mars — should be the priority for space agencies, says Canada’s first female astronaut.

“In preparation for sending people to Mars, ethically, you really need to understand a bit more about some of the issues — physiological issues — that human beings face,” Roberta Bondar told reporters Thursday after addressing a packed room at the University of Saskatchewan’s Convocation Hall.

People have waxed poetic about travelling to the red planet for years — a movement fuelled by organizations like Mars One, which wants to establish the first human colony on Mars in 10 years, and by works of fiction such as Andy Weir’s novel “The Martian,” which was adapted into an award-winning film released last year. 

But few understand how much can go wrong when they’re more than 78 million kilometres from home, Bondar said. She enjoys sharing some of the many possibilities — including developing dementia-like symptoms because of radiation. Once, a woman who hoped to travel to Mars one day was reduced to tears after hearing Bondar talk.

“There are many things that we have to sort out before taking the big leap to Mars. It is a long way to go and very difficult to bring people back if we haven’t got it right,” Bondar said.

Not so with the moon, where just a dozen people have set foot, most recently in 1972. Bondar is an advocate of more manned lunar missions so space agencies can experiment with living in space without being too far away to access help.

“Going to the moon, we can get people back very quickly if we needed to,” Bondar said. “We can develop telescope systems, things that would help us with our guidance systems. We can develop ways of looking at radiation in space, we can have laboratories to do all kinds of things.”

In an era when space agencies are fighting for ever-scarce dollars, Bondar said she hopes Canada continues to invest in its space program. The country currently boasts two active astronauts, Jeremy Hansen and David St. Jacques, who are expected to head to space by 2024. Bondar said she hopes that number grows and the body of astronauts becomes more diverse.

“One would hope that there would be women sometime,” she said.