Q&A: Jeremy Hansen reflects on being picked for the moon mission

For the first time in history, a Canadian is headed to the moon. Jeremy Hansen, born in London, Ont., and raised in Ailsa Craig, is one of four astronauts selected to orbit the moon on NASA’s Artemis II mission. 

The mission is expected to launch in late 2024, when the astronauts will orbit the moon for 10 days in the Orion spacecraft to test key components in preparation for Artemis III, which will place humans back on the moon in 2025 for the first time since 1972. 

CBC London Morning host Rebecca Zandbergen spoke with Hansen the day after NASA and the Canadian Space Agency officially made the announcement during a news conference held at NASA Johnson Space Center’s Ellington Field in Houston, Texas.

The following has been edited for clarity. 

RZ: How does it feel to be named on this mission? 

JH: I’m pretty excited about the opportunity to fly around the moon and represent Canada, but I’m also humbled by this opportunity.

RZ: How long has this been your dream? 

JH: As a young farm boy, I saw an image of Neil Armstrong standing on the moon in Encyclopedia A and it really captured my imagination. I’ve been talking about this since I was little. My mom on the weekend was just reminding me that I was talking about this when I was five years old; it’s one of the reasons they made a specific trip to the Kennedy Space Centre. So it’s definitely been on my mind for a long time.

RZ: I understand you also had to keep this though this mission a secret for the past two weeks. How hard was it to keep that under wraps?

JH: I guess, you know, you’re excited to share it with people, but it’s not that hard really. It paid off yesterday cause it was really nice to see the big reveal, not so much for me but for Canada. 

I just thought Canada was really nicely highlighted by our American partners demonstrating the real value that our overall space program brings to the international partnership. That was a really beautiful opportunity and display of Canada’s greatness and brilliance. 

It was nice to see Minister [François-Philippe] Champagne there making the announcement on stage with our American partners. That was really special for me. It left me with this great sense of pride for Canada, truly.

What I would love Canadians to understand is we didn’t get here this year. We’ve been heading in this direction over decades. Thousands and thousands of people have contributed slowly over time to put Canada in a position to be on this historic mission returning to the moon – the second country in the world to send a human into deep space. This is a huge accomplishment for Canadians and it was done by a lot of hard work. I hope Canadians are as proud as I am. 

LISTEN | Jeremy Hansen talks about being the first Canadian going to the moon on CBC London Morning:

RZ: A ‘can-do’ attitude, by the sounds of it. 

JH: Absolutely. Really has been and it hasn’t been easy. With any great challenge – this is great for our young listeners to understand – in life you are just going to constantly face challenges, and we have faced a lot of challenges over the years, but that can-do attitude has gotten us to where we are. We’ve just never given up, and now we are a major spacefaring nation. 

RZ: And so, what does that can-do attitude look like for you in the next year and a half before your mission begins? 

JH: For me, it means digging in really hard with a crew of four: three Americans and myself. They’re people I’ve worked with now for a long time there. I trust them implicitly. And they’re also my friends. We’re going to be working really closely together with the broader team to prepare for the first crewed test flight of the Orion capsule and the SOS rocket. It will take us around the moon. 

In any test program, what you know is you’re going to face challenges. You’re gonna find things that aren’t going as you expected, and then you’ve got to find a work around. And so we’ll be spending the next 18 months problem solving with a big team.

RZ: Eventually, the goal is to get people back on the moon’s surface by 2025, the first time since 1972. Why is that so important to get people back there?

JH: It’s really the evolution of space exploration. We have many reasons we’d like to get back on the surface of the moon. There’s lots of scientific discovery there. We really only explored a few tiny places near the Equatorial regions of the moon. Since then, we’ve learned a lot from those samples and also some probes that we believe, for example, there’s water ice in the permanently shadowed craters. So we would like to have a look at that. 

We think we might be able to use those resources to help us sustain a human presence off the earth surface and then help us to go on to Mars. There’s just a lot to do. But for us, when we look at the problem of you know getting out into the solar system in a sustainable way, this is a logical next step.

RZ: You got a big start from Air Cadet Squadron 614. How important was the air cadets for you in London? 

JH: I’m glad you brought that up. That’s my family. Our theme song was always [the Sister Sledge song] We Are Family. We heard that yesterday in the announcement from one of the congresswomen here, which kind of brought me back to that and kinda full circle. 

614 Squadron really had a huge impact in my life and the entire Air Cadet program. I joined Air Cadets because I was interested in aviation. My dad had heard about it and said, ‘this sounds like they’ll teach you to fly.’ And I was like, ‘wow, OK, sign me up.’ 

But in reality, when I look back, the cadet program did so much more for me than that. It taught me to be a good Canadian citizen. It gave me self-confidence that I really didn’t have. I was a pretty shy farm boy and it really pushed me outside my comfort zone and gave me some leadership skills, ultimately preparing me to join the Royal Canadian Air Force. So I credit the Air Cadet program with changing my life.

LISTEN / Travis Buckle, the commanding officer of the Forest City Royal Canadian Air Cadets Squadron 614, on CBC London Morning:

RZ: If there are parents of kids who are dreamers like you were, what do you say to them and to kids who are listening to inspire them?

JH: The most important thing for young people is to just set goals. They don’t have to be career goals. They could be short-term goals, but there’s huge value in setting goals for yourself and then sharing those goals with other people. 

You’ll be amazed at how others will help you accomplish those goals. And when I look back, that’s exactly what happened to me. I didn’t do this by myself. It’s a lot of people steering me, guiding me, picking me up when I failed, and helping me move on. So set goals, but share them with other people.