Ontario professor part of NASA's geology team for Artemis III moon mission

An Ontario university professor has been named part of the NASA team that will develop the lunar surface science plan for the first people to walk on the moon in more than 50 years.
    
Gordon Osinski is the sole Canadian on the geology team recently announced by NASA for the Artemis three mission.
    
The team will plan the science tasks to be carried out by astronauts expected to land near the south pole of the moon as early as December 2025.
    
Osinski, an Earth sciences professor at Western University, says it still feels pretty surreal to be named to the team.
    
NASA's Artemis missions will take humans back to the moon and explore more of the lunar surface with the goal of using the findings to inform an eventual mission to Mars.
    
The Artemis two mission _ which includes Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen _ will send a crew of four into space as early as November next year for a figure-8 maneuver around the far side of the moon .
    
The Artemis three mission, which Osinski is supporting, will be the first human-crewed mission to the lunar south pole and a return to the moon for the first time since 1972.
    
The team he is part of will plan astronauts' scientific tasks during moonwalks, including field geology studies, the collection of lunar samples, imagery and scientific measurements.
    
NASA says that will help deepen the understanding of fundamental planetary processes.