Canada to contribute to NASA mission to put Gateway orbiter around moon

OTTAWA - Canada will join NASA's space mission to put an orbiter around the moon in a few years, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday. "Canada is going to the moon," Trudeau told a press conference that included a live video link from the International Space Station with Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques. NASA plans to build a small space station, dubbed Gateway, in the moon's orbit by 2026. It will serve as a way-station for trips to and from the lunar surface, but will not be permanently crewed like the International Space Station (ISS), currently in Earth's orbit. According to the Canadian Space Agency, Gateway will provide living space for astronauts, a docking station for visiting spacecraft and research laboratories.