MONTREAL — With less than a year left until his historic trip around the moon, Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen is exploring deep space even further, just as NASA’s Apollo program inspired his journey. He said humanity’s future missions of exploration will provide inspiration for future generations.
MONTREAL — With less than a year left until his historic trip around the moon, Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen says he’ll explore even more deep space, just as NASA’s Apollo mission fueled his passion. He said humanity’s future missions will inspire future generations.
Hansen will be aboard Artemis II, scheduled to launch in November 2024, marking the first manned voyage to lunar space since the last Apollo mission more than half a century ago.
Hansen, 47, was born a few years after NASA’s Apollo program ended, but he still remembers the shock he felt when he saw a photo of American astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the moon in an encyclopedia. ing.
“That photo is still etched in my mind. As a child, I would go back and look at that page many times, but the realization that humans left Earth and walked on the moon was something that stuck with me. It was a big deal. I converted my treehouse into a spaceship and started exploring space in my imagination, but I never gave up on my dream of one day flying into space,” Hansen said in a recent interview. .
“Now that I’m here and we’re going to deep space, I think this Artemis generation has a direct benefit for our young people…and for today’s young people, we… I think just reminding them that we can accomplish big things and that we can work together is important to them. ”
Mr. Hansen, who lives in London, Ontario, becomes the first non-American to travel beyond low Earth orbit. His mission includes a lunar flight, where he performs a figure-eight flight on the far side of the moon before returning to Earth. This is a precursor to a mission expected to land the first woman and first person of color on the moon after December 2025.
Preparations for the Artemis II mission continued right up until launch, and Hansen said it was on schedule. Upcoming events will include a simulation of the capsule being pulled out of the Pacific Ocean by the U.S. Navy in February, at the end of an eight-day mission.
“There are probably more question marks than you imagine because this is a test and development program, and we need to move forward as quickly as possible,” Hansen said. “It’s not all over, we just have to sit back and wait for the release date.”
Hansen’s mission will be the first crewed flight for the Orion spacecraft, but like any space mission, the most serious risks are during liftoff and atmospheric entry. Unlike being on the International Space Station, where a shuttle is being prepared to bring people back to Earth, there is no way to abort the Artemis mission if something goes wrong.
“If there’s any problem with it, it’s that it’s a long way from home,” Hansen said. “Once you set out to go to the moon, you’re probably pretty much committing to that eight-day trip. So there’s some risk, but it’s really from a distance perspective. ”
Calgary resident Jenny Gibbons, 35, was appointed in November to replace Hansen in the event she is unable to sail. Matthew Carron, Director of Astronaut, Life Sciences and Space Medicine at the Canadian Space Agency, said her experience as a stand-in will help position Canada’s space program better for future missions. Told.
Gibbons agreed that learning about her role in moon missions, from launch to splashdown, is an investment in future missions. “If Canada chooses to invest in activities on the moon, I think we will be ready, and so will everyone in our Corps,” she said in an interview.
Fellow Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutlik, 41, of Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., will fly to the space station in early 2025 on the first mission of the Boeing Starliner 1 spacecraft.he will spend 6 months in space
All in all, it means a busy few years for the country’s astronaut corps, but Caron said it’s a good problem to have.
“We’re very excited that as a space agency, we’re facing a beautiful problem where we have exciting missions that we have to support almost simultaneously,” Caron said.
David St. Jacques, 53, of St. Lambert, Kenya, is the only member of the astronaut corps with experience in spaceflight and is currently the Deputy Director-General of the Space Agency, where he is responsible for Canada’s future lunar exploration capabilities. Contributing to development.
There are no plans to add more astronauts, and all four current members are medically and technically cleared to participate in future space missions, Caron said.
“Our goal is to ensure that astronauts can fly,” Caron said. In addition to the two announced missions, another Canadian is scheduled to go to the International Space Station by 2030 and another to the Lunar Gateway outpost, a small space station orbiting the moon. .
Canada is contributing Canadarm 3 to the moon station. It will also contribute to the production of small lunar rovers designed for use at the moon’s south pole, as well as larger practical lunar rovers, said CSA president Lisa Campbell. Stated.
“We’re very excited not only about human spaceflight, but also about leveraging the benefits of space for Canada,” Campbell said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 13, 2023.
Sidhartha Banerjee, Canadian Press
