Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques participates in the inauguration of the Montreal Moonstone Exhibition

Canadian Astronaut David Saint-Jacques, who took off for an extended stay at the International Space Station in December, participated in the launch of an exhibition on the moon at the Science Center. from Montreal on Friday.

Visitors will be able to touch the lunar sample. -billion years, weighs 24 grams and is only as big as an eraser.

It is not a coincidence that the show was officially unveiled on the 49th anniversary of the first lunar landing inhabited by American astronauts at Apollo 11 on July 20th. , 1969.

St. James touched the last center of attention of the science center, which was collected during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. [19659004] But he admitted to reporters that he "I think that's for the next generation of astronauts," he told reporters on Friday. "Not for me."

But Saint-Jacques said that he would like to see the lunar footprints of Canadians.

"Physically and physically, it is a possibility, of course," he said. "These are political decisions, program decisions, but I think we should … It will be an incredible source of inspiration for everyone."

Saint-Jacques, which launches on board the space laboratory in orbit December 20th A Russian Soyuz spacecraft will celebrate its 49th anniversary on the space station on January 6th.

But his mission will end before the 50th anniversary of the "little step" of the late Neil Armstrong on the lunar surface

"The schedule is still open to debate … but I will be back on Earth," said Friday Saint-Jacques

.

"We focus on my training to be the best pair of eyes and hands for the scientists on the planet who have developed all these experiences. "I also have to learn," he says.

I have periments on myself, because I will be the subject or a guinea pig for many of these experiments. "

The Science Center claims that its lunar rocks show is only the tenth of its kind in the world.

Montreal, it was stored in NASA's labs, where it was protected from the danger." Earth's atmosphere: The basalt stone had never been touched before, except by the NASA experts who had prepared it for his trip to Montreal