Every big achievement starts small.
Recently, some people on social media have been mocking the Atlantic Spaceport Complex:
Posts like the one above fit into a mindset based on seeking to demoralize backers of efforts to strengthen Canadian sovereignty. By taking the beginning of a process as the finished product, such a mindset hopes to convince people to mock any efforts at improvement and give up before trying.
But such a mindset misses the point. Every great effort, including NASA and SpaceX, was at one point nothing but an idea. Then, initial steps were taken to translate that idea into reality. Those initial steps always looked small, and a critic could have easily stood on the sideline and mocked those efforts in the beginning, as they would have looked unimpressive. But, over time, what started small became big.
NordSpace received approval to start construction of the Atlantic Spaceport Complex on December 19th of 2025, and construction has only recently started to ramp up:
These are very early days for the project.
Respecting those who drive Canada’s space ambitions forward
People like NordSpace CEO Rahul Goel, the NordSpace team, Maritime Launch Services, Canadian Strategic Missions Corporation CEO Daniel Sax, and all who are involved in different ways in Canada’s space ambitions deserve respect and admiration. Rather than accept the status quo, they are working to help Canada become a country with a strong and sovereign space program. It’s not an easy task, since Canada starts from far behind many of our peer nations, but that only makes the willingness to take action more admirable.
The courage to start small
Great things are accomplished when people are willing to think beyond what exists today, imagine something better, and take action to close the gap. For Canada, a nation with abundant natural resources, a well-educated population, and openness to diverse ways of thinking from around the world, adding more ambition can help us realize our unlimited potential. For that to happen, we need the courage to start small and to praise and uplift those who strengthen our nation by demonstrating that courage. When we look at things that way, we can see that the Atlantic Spaceport Complex is something to be proud of, as it represents an important step towards Canada’s future in space.
Spencer Fernando
Image – YouTube – NordSpace
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