HOUSTON (Axiom Space PR) — The exciting new era of commercial human spaceflight ushered in over the past three weeks by the successful Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1), the first  private mission to the International Space Station (ISS), entered a new phase with the signing of an agreement between Axiom Space and the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to fly a UAE professional crew member to the ISS on NASA’s SpaceX Crew 6, expected to occur in 2023.

Canadian Space Agency Backgrounder

As many countries prepare for humanity’s return to the Moon, there is great potential for Canadian entrepreneurs and scientists to advance lunar science and technology, and be part of the highly competitive global supply chain to the Moon.

Today’s announcement highlights the Government of Canada’s latest support for Canada’s space industries and new opportunities to prepare Canadian entrepreneurs and scientists to take part in lunar exploration.

Demonstrating Canadian technology on or around the Moon

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is funding Canadian companies – through the Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program (LEAP) – to launch and demonstrate technology payloads on or around the Moon.

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (Roscosmos PR) — This morning, March 22, 2021, the Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with the Fregat upper stage and 38 spacecraft on board was launched from the launch pad No. 31 of the Baikonur cosmodrome. 

After 1 hour and 3 minutes after the launch, the main payload was separated – the South Korean satellite for Earth remote sensing CAS500-1. At the moment, after processing telemetry information, the upper stage has successfully completed all stages of the program for placing the remaining 37 spacecraft into target orbits.