For future trips to the Moon, Canada wants to be able to use its own criminal law regarding its astronauts. In the future, it should be applied, among other things, to the surface of the Earth’s satellite. Canadian media reported that a draft amendment to the criminal law was passed in the lower house of Canada’s parliament in Ottawa this week.
According to the revised passage published by broadcaster CBC, crimes committed by Canadian astronauts during space travel are believed to have been committed on Canadian soil. This also explicitly applies to the planned “Lunar Gateway” space station and to the Moon itself, as amended by law. An earlier amendment to the law already included the ISS space station as a valid legal area.
Canada is thus preparing for its participation in the NASA-led “Artemis” program. The Canadian space agency CSA is not only involved in the development of space station technology, but a Canadian astronaut is also said to be on board for a planned manned flight to the Moon. The “Artemis II” mission, scheduled to launch in May 2024 at the latest, is initially intended to orbit the Moon. In the later mission “Artemis III”, the astronauts land on Earth’s satellite.
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