NASA Picked A Canadian For Its Historic Moon Mission & The Reason Will Fill You With Pride
He's from London, Ontario!
A rocket launching. Right: Jeremy Hansen.
It seems that the night sky is going to be a little bit more Canadian sometime soon.
The U.S.-based National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has announced that a Canadian is going to be on the next space mission to the moon, making him the first Canuck to actually orbit the celestial body.
The Ontarian is named Jeremy Hansen, and he's a colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces as well as a former fighter pilot.
And, according to Hansen, a Canadian was picked for a reason that'll warm your Canuck heart.
\u201cRepresenting the @csa_asc on #Artemis II to the Moon is @Astro_Jeremy, from London, Ontario. \n\nJeremy Hansen was a fighter pilot before joining CSA, and currently works with NASA on astronaut training and mission operations. This will be Hansen\u2019s first mission in space.\u201d— NASA (@NASA) 1680535509
On the announcement live stream, Hansen outlined that there were "two reasons why a Canadian is going to the moon."
"The first one is American leadership," said Hansen.
"America has made a very deliberate choice over decades to curate a global team," he explained, "and that, in my definition, is true leadership."
"All of Canada is grateful for that global mindset and that leadership."
And that's not the only reason.
"The second reason is Canada's can-do attitude," said Hansen to applause.
"For decades now, literally thousands upon thousands of Canadians have risen to that challenge. To bring real value to the international partnership with respect to space exploration," he said.
"All of those [steps] have added up to this moment where a Canadian is going to the moon with our international partnership, and it is glorious," concluded Hansen.
\u201cI\u2019m excited to leverage my experience, training, and knowledge to take on this challenging mission. I am honoured to represent Canada on Artemis II! \n\nWatch the full video here: https://t.co/1rVlE8c9OI\u201d— Jeremy R. Hansen (@Jeremy R. Hansen) 1680544231
He is one of the four people going on the mission entitled Artemis II, which involves a trip around the moon to "prove the Orion spacecraft’s life-support systems, and validate the capabilities and techniques needed for humans to live and work in deep space," according to NASA.
This mission is planned to be taking place in November 2024, according to CNN, when the astronauts will orbit the moon for 10 days before returning.
Not only will this be the first Canadian orbiting the moon, but it will also be the first manned space mission to that grey orb in the sky since 1972 — over 50 years!
Of course, this isn't the only Canadian who will have been up in space, with famous Canadian astronauts like Roberta Bondar and Chris Hadfield being two notable examples.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.
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