The Artemis II mission is in its final preparation stages for a potential launch window on Wednesday, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen is set to make history as the first Canadian to fly around the moon.
The Canadian Space Agency is hoping this "once-in-a-generation" event inspires young people to dream big.
Hansen, 50, of London, Ontario, will serve as mission specialist for Artemis II and is set to become the first non-American to travel beyond low Earth orbit — a historic achievement for Canada.
His crewmates are NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch. Artemis II will be the first crewed mission to the moon since 1972, the year of the final Apollo mission.
"We believe this Artemis II mission for Canadians, it's a little bit of a once-in-a-generation mission … People will remember where they were when the launch happened and when the mission happened," Annie A.-Bélanger of the Canadian Space Agency said in an interview in January.
Here are five things you should know about the Artemis II mission as its crew waits for launch.
He'll answer questions from Canadians from space
The Canadian Space Agency accepted questions in French and English until January 23 and will pick a few submissions at random to present to Hansen while he is in orbit.
Bélanger said the agency would select questions from a diverse array of Canadians "from coast to coast to coast."
Delays are possible
It's not uncommon for space missions to be delayed. The Artemis II launch had been planned for September 2025 but was pushed to early 2026.
In late November 2022, NASA launched Artemis I — a NASA Orion spacecraft that did not contain a crew and orbited the moon before returning to Earth. That 25-day mission was also delayed.
"Any space launch is complex. It requires a lot of technical things to go absolutely perfectly (and) weather is another component and so up to the last minute, we are used to seeing launches that could be postponed or just cancelled for another date," Bélanger said.
NASA attempted to launch the four astronauts in February, but the launch was delayed by hydrogen fuel leaks and helium flow problems. Managers said the rocket is doing well after the latest round of repairs.
NASA has a six-day window to launch Artemis II. Forecasters have said the weather should co-operate.
Watch parties are planned across the country
"One of our goals is really to make sure that people and Canadians take can take part in that mission," Bélanger said, adding the CSA will provide mission updates on the agency's various social media channels.
Some watch parties are already planned at science museums across the country — the locations can be found on the CSA website. The agency also has created a watch party "tool kit" for people planning to witness the historic launch at home with family and friends.
Since most of the potential launch windows are late in the evening, students likely won't be watching it live in their classrooms. But Bélanger said milestone events will be streamed live and available after. The agency also has some science-related activities and projects for teachers.
"We've seen the excitement of students all across Canada and Jeremy has been doing virtual connections with many schools, thousands of students," Bélanger said. "It's something that is very important to him (and) very important to us as well to make sure that students know what's happening."
What's next for the mission
Following the roughly 10-day mission, the craft is expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean.
Canadian astronaut Jenni Gibbons, 37, of Calgary, is serving as Hansen's backup and will be supporting the crew from ground control.
More than 50 years after Apollo, an inspirational mission
"A lot of our Canadian astronauts were inspired by the Apollo missions, so it's a way (to inspire younger generations)," Bélanger said, adding that space travel can motivate young people to study science, technology, engineering and math.
Artemis II will set the stage for subsequent missions to land astronauts on the moon's south pole and to begin assembling the Gateway lunar space station, a small lunar outpost that will orbit the moon. The station will include a Canadian contribution — Canadarm 3 — described by the CSA as a robotic system using "cutting-edge software to perform some tasks around the Moon autonomously, without human intervention."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 31, 2026.
