NWT students and the City of Yellowknife is being given a small taste of the final frontier!
Throughout the week, Canadian Astronaut Col. Jeremy Hansen has been touring Northern schools to speak with the students and share his personal history in aviation, his journey to becoming an astronaut, and his upcoming journey as part of the Artemis II mission!
Born in January of 1976 in London, Ontario, Col. Hansen’s first step into the world of aviation would come when he was just 12-years-old, when he joined the 614 Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron. His time with the Cadets, as well as a healthy amount of pilot training, would then lead him to the Royal Military College Saint-Jean in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, which in turn lead to Officer Training in the Canadian Armed Forces in 1994.
Hansen served as a fighter pilot with the CAF until 2009, when he was one of the two recruits selected by the Canadian Space Agency in the third Canadian Astronaut Recruitment Campaign.
In his own words, Col. Hansen shared some of what it takes to become an astronaut with the CSA.
“Well, I suppose it definitely takes a little bit of luck, but when I look back, and what I love to convey to our youth is that I was inspired by space, and I did something really important; I shared my goal of becoming a space explorer with other people. When I look back on it, I realize that they’re the ones who helped point me in the right direction and who used that motivation to help push me a little harder in school and to challenge me.”
Col. Hansen also shared a piece of advice he received from fellow Canadian Astronaut, Chris Hadfield. Hansen recalls that he was struggling to make a decision on a program to follow through university. Hadfield told him to simply pick the course that interested him the most, as that will lead to a better performance and open up more opportunities. That course ended up being the Space and Science program.
Following those passions has led Col. Hansen to where he is now; as one of the four astronauts who will be taking part in the Artemis II mission.
In November of 2022, NASA launched Artemis I. This mission was the first in a new frontier of space travel, as an Orion spacecraft made a twenty-five day journey around the Moon and back. This mission was unmanned, but was the first step in a new series of missions that will work to establish long-term human presence on the Moon, which in turn will one day allow for manned missions to Mars.
The Artemis II mission will be very similar. A ten-day journey around the moon and right back home, but this time, Col. Hansen will be aboard the Orion craft, alongside Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch. The goal of this mission is to prove that the Orion craft can successfully operate manned missions so it can be used again. If all goes well, Artemis III will see human beings on the surface of the Moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972.
Col. Hansen shared his thoughts on the gravity of this milestone.
“In the end, I feel pretty humbled by the opportunity. I think what’s really important for Canadians to understand is that we will be the second country in the world to send a human into deep space, and it’s not a gift, it’s something we earned. We had to bring real value to the international stage to be invited into this program with the United States, with NASA, and that partnership is a real representation of the value that Canadians bring.”
Col. Hansen will be making an appearance at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre on Thursday, March 13th from 6:00pm to 7:00pm. Local residents are invited to come down for a chance to meet the astronaut and ask questions.
