When the First Canadian Flew to the Moon, Fredericton Was Listening

When most people picture space exploration, they picture Florida launch pads, Houston mission control, or a rover on Mars — not Fredericton. But when the first Canadian in history flew around the Moon this spring, one of the ground stations following his spacecraft was in Fredericton.

That detail sits inside a profile of UNB's growing NASA footprint published this week by the university's newsroom — a footprint that now reaches from the surface of Mars to lunar orbit.

The only Canadian university tracking Artemis II

UNB did something on that mission no other Canadian university was asked to do.

Artemis II flew April 1 to 10, 2026: the first crewed flight to the Moon since 1972. Aboard the Orion spacecraft Integrity were NASA's Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch — and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Col. Jeremy Hansen, the first Canadian, and the first non-American, to fly a lunar mission. On April 6 the crew rounded the far side of the Moon and reached 406,771 km from Earth, the farthest humans have ever travelled, breaking a record held by Apollo 13 since 1970.

Listening for that spacecraft, from Fredericton, were Dr. Brent Petersen of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Dr. Richard Langley of the Department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering. Working through the UNB Earth Station alongside student researchers, they received and tracked Integrity's radio signals as it travelled around the Moon.

UNB was the only Canadian university selected to help track the mission, joining an international network supporting spacecraft communications. For a department celebrating a century of electrical engineering this year, it is a fitting anniversary present: when the first Canadian in history flew to the Moon, the Canadian university tracking his ride was in Fredericton — and undergraduates were in the room.

Also on the Mars rover's science team

The Moon is only half of it. Two UNB researchers are members of the team supporting NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover mission: Dr. Lucy Thompson and Dr. Catherine O'Connell-Cooper. Last year their work contributed to a discovery offering new insight into the planet's history — and into whether Mars may once have supported conditions suitable for life.

It's the kind of finding that feeds the two biggest questions in planetary science: how planets evolve, and whether life exists beyond Earth.

The pipeline behind it

The Earth Station — which receives and processes satellite data — doubles as a training ground where students work hands-on with the same kinds of tools and technologies used by NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, and the European Space Agency, across satellite technology, planetary science, remote sensing, and communications.

"Space exploration has always been a global effort, and universities play a critical role in that work," said Dr. David MaGee, UNB's vice-president research. "What we're seeing at UNB is researchers and students contributing expertise that is making an impact far beyond our campus."

That's the quiet part of UNB's space story, and arguably the most New Brunswick part: the same research-and-student pipeline that feeds the province's tech employers also feeds humanity's space program.

The university says the profile is the first in a series on its space work; the next instalment covers Thompson and O'Connell-Cooper's Mars geology in more depth.

Sources

• Space happens here: Inside UNB's growing role in NASA missions — UNB newsroom feature (Aug. 17, 2026); Curiosity team membership, Artemis II tracking, Earth Station details
• UNB Earth Station — satellite data reception and student training facility
• NASA Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity — mission context for the rover science team
• NASA: Artemis II — launch and splashdown dates (April 1–10, 2026), first crewed lunar flight since 1972
• Canadian Space Agency: The Artemis II mission — Orion Integrity, full crew, Hansen as first Canadian on a lunar mission, 406,771 km distance record
• Canadian Space Agency: Astronaut Jeremy Hansen — biography and mission role