CANADA PERSPECTIVE

Canada lives Artemis II as a national event. Jeremy Hansen, the Canadian astronaut on the crew, is the first non-American to leave Earth orbit since the Apollo missions. CBC and the National Post won't let anyone forget it. But it's the Globe and Mail that delivers the sharpest take in the entire panel: 'Artemis II and Iran: Two strikingly different missions define the U.S.' -- one planned with precision, its goals discrete and defined; the other hastily assembled, its course improvised, its goals constantly changing. This juxtaposition is devastating. Canada allows itself this critique because it has an astronaut in the capsule -- national pride grants editorial license. Hansen in Orion is proof that Canada matters in the alliance; Iran is proof that the alliance is drifting. The contrast between the two missions is the perfect metaphor for American schizophrenia as seen from Ottawa.