First Canadian set to orbit the moon with NASA
Emma Voelpel, Staff Writer
Canadians have been orbiting space since 1984, but the Artemis II mission will mark the first time a NASA-trained Canadian will orbit Earth and the Moon.
Initially, NASA was preparing to launch Artemis II early this month. However, after a liquid hydrogen leak was found during a test launch, the mission’s engineers have delayed the earliest possible launch date to March 2026.
“With March as the potential launch window, teams will fully review data from the test, mitigate each issue, and return to testing ahead of setting an official target launch date,” the space agency said in a statement ahead of its Feb. 3 news conference.
The mission is part of the Artemis campaign—a project that intends to orbit the Earth and past the moon for “scientific discovery and technology advancement.”
The crew set to board the Orion spacecraft—the ship used for exploration—includes NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
About Hansen
Hansen was born in London, Ont., in 1976. He first became interested in aviation at the age of 12 when he joined the 614 Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron in his hometown.
Some years later, he earned his pilot license at 17 and quickly enrolled in the Royal Military College Saint-Jean in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in space science in 1999 and a master’s of science in physics a year later, Hansen spent the early 2000s training to be a fighter pilot.
In 2009, he was recruited by the CSA as one of only two people selected for its third Canadian Astronaut Recruitment Campaign. Two years later, he graduated and started working in the mission control centre.
Over the next several years, he would participate in programs such as the European Space Agency’s CAVES program in Sardinia, Italy, where he spent six weeks in an underground exhibition spanning over four kilometres. After that, he was a crew member on NEEMO 19, an underwater training session meant to simulate an environment similar to that in outer space by going into the deep sea.
All of this experience came to a boil in 2017, when Hansen became the first-ever Canadian to lead a NASA astronaut class. During that time, he trained and mentored astronauts from all over North America, a milestone for Canadian astronauts.
Hansen was assigned to the Artemis II mission in 2023.
On a clear day during a full moon even a consumer telescope can see the moon’s
craters in detail. Photo by Landen Melnick
Canadian’s future in NASA
The first Artemis took off in 2022 on a crewless mission that orbited the moon—it was a test launch for future spacecraft carrying actual crew members. The project for the second mission was repeatedly delayed until a blast-off date was set for February 2026.
The Orion is set to take off at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The mission will be the first time a space crew has been sent to the moon since the final Apollo mission in 1972.
“I’m actually pretty pumped to see that, because, you know, in just a few weeks you’re going to see four humans fly around the moon,” Hansen told The Canadian Press. “If we’re doing that now, imagine what we can do next. I’m pretty pumped to see that come to fruition.”
The mission is set to last roughly 10 days. The Orion will spend time evaluating other spacecraft to see how they operate and how they respond to the atmosphere. NASA described the goal of the expedition as a way to “expand our knowledge of space radiation, human health and behaviour, and space communications.”
The maximum distance the crew is set to travel will be 4,600 miles beyond the moon—approximately 240,000 miles from Earth.
Part of the mission’s ground crew is fellow Canadian astronaut Jenni Gibbons. A native of Calgary, Gibbons has been part of the CSA since graduating from their training program in 2020.
NASA first invited Canadians on board its Artemis missions, and they sure delivered new developments in robotic systems for deep space.
This partnership with NASA creates a space for future Canadians to be given the chance to travel to the moon and beyond.
