The Johnson Space Center in Houston was buzzing with anticipation on Monday as NASA prepared to introduce the four astronauts chosen to go on the farthest ride of their lives — to the moon.
Jeremy Hansen, a 47-year-old who served as a fighter pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force, was named as a mission specialist for Artemis II. He spoke to me earlier this week.
This interview was edited and condensed for clarity and length.
VI: What was it like to hear your name announced?
JH: It’s still sinking in a little bit. It’s somewhat shocking to find out that I would be going to the moon. Yesterday was really special for me as a Canadian. I just felt like Canada was on that stage and it wasn’t really me: It was Canada.
VI: When and how did you find out that you would be on the crew?
JH: A little over two weeks ago, the president of the Canadian Space Agency, Lisa Campbell, called me and said: “OK, it’s time Jeremy. We’ve been talking with NASA. We’re going to commit to announcing a crew, finalizing a crew roster, and we’d like you to fly on behalf of Canada.” That was a pretty special phone call for me. I was permitted to share it with my wife and children as long as they were sworn to secrecy.
VI: How did they take it? Your kids, especially. (Mr. Hansen has three children.)
JH: Really well, super excited. Seemingly not too worried at this point, which I didn’t know if they would be. But they seem to have a lot of confidence. They’ve watched the space program up close through their whole life, basically. And they seem to have a lot of confidence that we’ll make the right choices, we’ll take smart risks. I’m sure they’ll get nervous, like I will, probably the day before. But right now we’re feeling great about it.
VI: You’re one of the two mission specialists. What kind of training will you do for that role?
JH: We really don’t have specific roles. It’s the first time the vehicle flies with humans on it, so we will develop this over the next 18 months, where we will be working with the broader team as a crew, figuring out what needs to get done to make this a success, and then we’ll start dividing up the duties.
VI: What’s the most involved stage of the flight when you’ll be the busiest?
JH: The first 18 hours look like they’re going to be really busy because there’s a limited amount of time before we leave low-Earth orbit and commit to going to the moon. In those 18 hours, we need to check out every system and capability on the vehicle, make sure that it’s working the way we expect it to. We’re also going to use that time to do some manual flying around the booster that got us there because we need to have the capability to dock in the future, to go down to the surface of the moon.
VI: What will be the highlight, for you, of the mission?
JH: It has got to be the perspective. The prime minister called me last week to congratulate me and he highlighted that only 24 humans have ever seen the full Earth, the entire Blue Marble hanging in space.
VI: Before we finish, I have two fun questions. What’s your favorite space movie?
JH: The most recent one that I loved the most was “The Martian.” I just love how that movie captured — and I read the book, too — the problem-solving approach of space culture, how we do that here, in Mission Control and in control centers around the world. It also captured that spirit of “just don’t give up.” You don’t have to know that you’re going to survive. But you do have to know that you have a chance and you have to just keep trying. I love that.
VI: On another note, you’ll also be eating space food for 10 days while on the mission. What would you choose as your first meal back?
JH: Wow, you’re getting ahead of me. I haven’t spent any brain time on that.
VI: Any Canadian delicacy or anything that you tend to reach for?
JH: I’m going to have to think on that. No, I’m not ready to answer that one, I don’t want to pick that meal yet. I’ll see what I’m craving.
VI: On a final note, what’s your message to Canadians as you embark on this new chapter for Canada’s space program?
JH: The message for Canadians is that we’re already doing amazing things. I think we have a cultural tendency — I know I do — to keep ourselves just a little bit small. I want Canada to stretch out and realize we have a really important contribution to make on the world stage. We need to be bold.
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Vjosa Isai is a reporter-researcher for The New York Times in Canada. Follow her on Twitter at @lavjosa.
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