‘It is glorious,’ says astronaut Jeremy Hansen, announced as 1st Canadian to orbit the moon | 24CA News
Jeremy Hansen is heading to the moon.
The 47-year previous Canadian astronaut was introduced at the moment as one among 4 astronauts — together with Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Reid Wiseman — who can be a part of NASA’s Artemis II mission.
“For me, it’s a bit unreal still,” Hansen instructed CBC’s Paul Hunter.
“I just want Canadians to feel that pride. I just want Canadians to realize, hey, we are up to big things here in Canada and can accomplish the seemingly impossible if we believe in ourselves.”
Hansen was one among 4 energetic Canadian astronauts that included Jennifer Sidey-Gibbons, Joshua Kutryk and David Saint-Jacques vying for a seat on the Orion spacecraft set to orbit the moon.
Jeremy Hansen, one among 4 astronauts who can be a part of NASA’s Artemis II mission, says he desires fellow Canadians to know they ‘can accomplish the seemingly not possible if we consider in ourselves.’
Artemis I used to be the primary take a look at of NASA’s new mega-rocket — the Space Launch System (SLS) and its new crew capsule, Orion. Uncrewed, it launched in November on a 25-day mission across the moon that was deemed successful.
Artemis II is the second step in NASA’s mission to return astronauts to the floor of the moon.
The astronauts will not be touchdown, however relatively they are going to orbit for 10 days within the Orion spacecraft, testing key parts to organize for Artemis III that may place people again on the moon a while in 2025 for the primary time since 1972.
And, due to the orbit Orion will take, the 4 astronauts will journey farther than any astronauts ever have earlier than them. With Artemis I, the Orion capsule travelled 434,523 kilometres from Earth. The farthest some other human-rated spacecraft had travelled beforehand was 400,171 kilometres through the Apollo 13 mission.
Canada will get a seat on Artemis II as a result of its contributions to Lunar Gateway, an area station that may orbit the moon. But Canada can be constructing a lunar rover supplied by Canadensys Aerospace.
‘Makes me smile’
On Monday, Hansen famous there are two causes a Canadian goes to the moon, including that it “makes me smile when I say that.”
The first, he mentioned, is American management, and the choice to curate a global staff.
“The second reason is Canada’s can-do attitude,” he mentioned proudly.
François-Philippe Champagne, minister of innovation, science and trade, lauded the importance of a Canadian being a part of the mission. In a news launch, he congratulated Hansen “for being at the forefront of one of the most ambitious human endeavours ever undertaken.”
Jeremy Hansen will be a part of the Artemis II mission set to orbit the moon in 2024. The announcement was made Monday from NASA Johnson Space Center’s Ellington Field in Houston, Texas.
“Canada’s participation in the Artemis program will spur the creation of thousands of highly skilled jobs, boost innovation and be a source of national pride for years to come,” he mentioned.
On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau known as Hansen “an exceptional individual.”
“He will do all Canadians proud. There’s no doubt about it.”
Representing the <a href=”https://twitter.com/csa_asc?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@csa_asc</a> on <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Artemis?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Artemis</a> II to the Moon is <a href=”https://twitter.com/Astro_Jeremy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@Astro_Jeremy</a>, from London, Ontario. <br><br>Jeremy Hansen was a fighter pilot earlier than becoming a member of CSA, and at present works with NASA on astronaut coaching and mission operations. This can be Hansen’s first mission in house. <a href=”https://t.co/zIVetAQeFE”>pic.twitter.com/zIVetAQeFE</a>
—@NASA
Patience pays off
Born and raised in southwestern Ontario, Hansen recalled in a 2014 CSA interview that he at all times wished to be an astronaut.
“For as long as I can remember, I was fascinated by space exploration,” he mentioned. “I looked at a photograph of Neil Armstrong standing on the moon, and I wanted to see what it would be like to leave this planet, to look at it from beyond.”
Now he is getting his likelihood. Hansen mentioned he discovered about his function on the mission about two weeks in the past. The solely folks he instructed had been his spouse, his kids and his dad and mom.
According to the CSA, Hansen joined the Air Cadet Program when he was 12, after which went on to check house science on the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont. He ultimately grew to become a pilot, flying CF-18s in Cold Lake, Alta. He remains to be a colonel within the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Hansen was recruited by the CSA in 2009 together with Saint-Jacques. Since then, he has carried out intensive coaching within the High Arctic, spent six days coaching in a cave in Italy and one other seven days 19 metres beneath the floor off the coast Key Largo, Fla., as a part of the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) venture.
In 2016, Hansen was the voice of Capcom (a classic time period from NASA’s Mercury program days that stands for capsule communicator) on the Johnson Space Center in Houston. The following 12 months, he grew to become the primary Canadian in control of coaching astronauts from each Canada and the United States.
Now, Hansen will spend his time coaching for his mission, which entails a spacecraft no human has ever flown in earlier than.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Hansen will make all Canadians proud when he turns into one among a handful of individuals to orbit the moon.
