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NASA successfully kicked off its historic Artemis 2 mission around the Moon on Wednesday, a pitch-perfect rocket launch that saw the agency’s towering Space Launch System and Orion capsule carry humans to space for the first time.
Besides being the first time we’ve sent humans to our celestial neighbor in over half a century, the mission’s daring crew of four also includes the first Black person and first woman to visit the Moon.
A third passenger, though, is raising hackles online. The agency’s decision to bring Canadian Space Agency astronaut and former North American Aerospace Defense Command fighter jet pilot Jeremy Hansen seems to have president Donald Trump’s supporters in a tizzy.
“Why are we letting a Canadian go to our Moon?” one X account wrote in a tweet that was liked and reshared thousands of times.
While the author likely meant the missive in jest, a brief glance at other colorful commentary proliferating on Elon Musk’s social media platform paints an unflattering picture of the way some Americans view the historic act of international collaboration.
“The US is sending a Canadian to the Moon on Wednesday,” another user wrote. “You would never guess that, from how they run their mouths, and how their stupid Prime Minister sucks up to China, but that’s okay. We are a great and generous people.”
It’s the kind of xenophobic isolationism the Trump administration has become known for. Some took to the platform to further its highly controversial stance that Canada should be annexed as the so-called “51st state.” Trump has repeatedly used inflammatory rhetoric to antagonize the United States’ northern neighbor and once closest ally.
“America is sending a Canadian to the moon because the American 1,000 Year Empire already controls Canada,” one account wrote.
“The US has a flag on the Moon,” another teased. “You don’t, Canadian bacon.”
Other commentators took a more lighthearted tone, poking fun at the way the media treated the subject.
“Wow, we really did it,” YouTuber and space enthusiast TJ Cooney tweeted. “Three humans and one Canadian going to the Moon.”
“It’s so funny that they keep saying first Canadian to go to the Moon in the same breath as the first Black man and the first woman,” Semafor‘s Josh Billinson wrote. “Sure, it’s true, but it’s not really the same thing!”
“The structural barrier to Canadians going to the Moon last time was not having a space agency!” he added.
Indeed, the Canadian Space Agency was established in 1990, several decades after NASA’s Apollo missions wrapped up. It has been been fostering a tight partnership with its American counterpart ever since, as exemplified by the Canadarm, the robotic arm that’s supported US Space Shuttle missions for 30 years. The agency’s followup Canadarm2, currently attached to the exterior of the International Space Station, has proven invaluable for orbital operations for the last 25 years.
Fortunately, the heated rhetoric on social media has likely flown far over the head of Hansen, who also wasn’t above playing into Canadian stereotypes during his preparations for the mission. He made sure to bring a piece of home while hundreds of thousands of miles away from home: maple syrup and maple cream cookies.
“I just kept saying to them yesterday, I really like it up here,” Hansen said in comments to the media on Friday, while surrounded by the cramped interior of NASA’s Orion spacecraft and his three American crewmates. “I wish I could’ve gotten here sooner.”
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