'This is extraordinary': Astronaut Jeremy Hansen talks about Canada's involvement in upcoming moon mission

Interview with Astronaut Jeremy Hansen WATCH: Cole Davenport chats with Col. Jeremey Hansen, a mission specialist with NASA's Artemis II program.

This story was originally published on Feb. 9. 2024.

Jeremy Hansen is living the dream of anyone wishing to explore the stars. The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Colonel and astronaut with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is set to become the first Canadian to travel to the moon as part of NASA’s Artemis II mission.

He joined CTV’s Cole Davenport to chat about his upcoming mission and offer some advice for those looking to follow their passions and achieve their dreams.

The full conversation with Col. Hansen can be viewed using the video player at the top of this story.

Tell us a little bit about Artemis II – what your role in it is going to be – and how you ended up in that role?

“Artemis II is the second time we fly this new rocket and capsule we built to go back to the moon. Artemis I was an uncrewed mission. There was no crew on that. We tested the rocket for the first time but Artemis II will be the first time we put a crew on it. Our job will be a crew of four – three Americans and myself – is to test all the aspects of this new capsule called Orion and make sure that in the future we’ll be able to rendezvous with a lunar lander, get to the surface. So our mission very simply is to spend a day orbiting the Earth testing it, make sure it looks like it’s good to go for a long distance journey. And then if that looks good, we’re going to do a transit or injection burn. We’re going to leave Earth, we’re going to journey around the moon and come back. It’ll be about a nine day mission in total. Splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.”

You have the dream job of hundreds, thousands, probably millions of kids. If you would have met your nine or 10-year-old self and said “You’re gonna go to the moon.” What would you have said?

“Well, I think what I would have told myself – like we probably need to remind all of ourselves – is that you can create a great path and a great future for yourself. It’s a matter of just setting goals. Know what you’d like to achieve. Doesn’t need to be a career goal could be anything but it’s important in life. This is what I was sharing with youth today and I’ll share tonight at the Science Centre: Set goals, share them with other people you don’t do anything of significance without a team around you. Set your goals, share them with other people and you can accomplish amazing things. Going back to your first question, you know, that’s why Canada is on this mission. This is extraordinary. Canada will be the second country in the world to send a human into deep space. I can assure you it has little to do with me. It is because of literally thousands of people over decades who have worked together in this country to create a space industry – built on the cornerstone of finding ways to use space to make our lives better on the planet. And that we share those talents with our international partners and we’ve earned a spot on this stage to go back to the moon with humanity. Super proud of Canada, and it’s just an opportunity to reflect back to Canadians. The greatness that’s in our country, the talents, the ability we have to collaborate that knowing of how to work together to accomplish big things is something that is built into us. Maybe driven into us by the cold and trying to survive here. But it’s just part of our DNA and we can continue to set those big goals for the country and accomplish amazing things.”

That does bring us back to what brings you to Saskatchewan. You’ve been speaking to students today – you’re going to be speaking at the Saskatchewan Science Center in Regina tonight and I believe Moose Jaw tomorrow as well. What makes it so important for you to get across the country and speak with students and just members of the public who are interested in space?

“A couple of reasons: One, you know part of my life path came through here. I did all my flight training with the Royal Canadian Air Force in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. So it’s a very meaningful time in my life. It’s just nice to come back here and visit again. But the other aspect is we recognize at the Canadian Space Agency that there are big challenges here on the planet. It’s important that as a country, we share the inspiration of what we’re able to do and just take a moment to reflect back to Canadians. There’s things like climate change that impact us and we know we can’t solve it all with space, but we know we can make an important contribution. We’re also looking at some other challenges we’re facing that we’re going to face on the Moon and Mars – so healthcare and food security. Eventually if we want to get humans to Mars, we’re gonna need to solve these. To be able to provide better health care, long distance health care, grow food on the moon, grow food on Mars, we have these stressors here in Canada, but we also have great talent in the country to solve them. People are already dealing with these they have great ideas and at the space agency we want to use the focus of space, the inspiration space to bring people together to find solutions for those problems on the planet. Then we’ll share them with our international partners to come to the Moon and Mars.”

Wrapping up here with one final question. As these Artemis missions continue to progress in the years to come – what do you hope to see by the end of it?

“I just hope to see an example for humanity to work together as my crewmates and I fly around the far side of the moon. The one thing that’s going to capture our attention is of course the moon – seeing it up close, its going to be beautiful. And then we’re going to see the Earth rise over the edge and it’s going to be extraordinary. We’re going to take a picture of everybody we’ve ever known, and you all will be in it and we’ll send that back. While Artemis II won’t solve all the problems of the world, it will be a shining example of international collaboration coming together to solve something that is almost impossible – throwing humans to the moon is not a trivial task – and just to remind us, we could do better on this planet. We could all work together. We could just create instead of destroy and we hope to just help people pick their heads up for a moment during the Artemis II mission and be reminded of that.”

NASA’s Artemis II mission is slated for September of 2025.

Originally from London, Ont. Hansen served as a CF-18 fighter pilot before being selected as a recruit by the CSA in 2009.

Since then, he has taken part in several training exercises such as the CAVES program and NEEMO 19. In 2017, he became the first Canadian to lead a NASA astronaut class.

Artemis II will mark the first crewed mission to the moon since NASA’s Apollo 17 in 1972.