Jeremy Hansen will quickly be distinctive in Canadian house historical past.
Hansen, 47, would be the first non-American to depart Earth orbit when he joins the Artemis II lunar mission subsequent yr, officers revealed Monday.
As a mission specialist, Hansen will likely be certainly one of 4 astronauts assigned to the 10-day mission scheduled to launch in November 2024, NASA and Canadian Area Company officers stated. The opposite three astronauts on the mission are all American: Christina Hammock Koch, Victor Glover and G. Reid Wiseman.
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Artemis II: Why NASA is sending a crew across the moon after 50 years
If profitable, this would be the first time people have come this near the moon for the reason that Apollo program greater than 50 years in the past.
Our scientists, our engineers, the Canadian Area Company, the Canadian army by the federal government, all of our management working collectively has added to this second when a Canadian will go to the moon with our worldwide partnership, and it’s superb, Hansen stated Monday.
On the finish of all of it, I used to be blown away when reminded what robust management, setting large objectives with a ardour for collaborating and a can-do perspective can obtain, and we’ll go to the moon collectively. Let’s go.
Astronauts final visited the moon in December 1972, bringing the Apollo program to a detailed. Thus far, 24 all-American males have visited the moon and half of them have walked on it.
The mission across the moon and again will take about 10 days. The return journey alone will take about 4 days.
It builds on the success of Artemis I, an unmanned flight that made a 1.4 million-mile journey previous the moon, returning to Earth after 25 days final December.
That mission befell to make sure secure reentry, descent, ditching and restoration utilizing the brand new Orion spacecraft, so NASA is prepared for Artemis II when a crew, together with a Canadian, is on board.
Twenty-four folks have seen the circle of the Earth with their very own eyes, and now a Canadian will likely be among the many subsequent folks to see it, the primary non-American to take action. It is a large deal, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau informed reporters in Val-d’Or, Que.
It is a credit score to Jeremy, however it’s additionally a credit score to the excellent scientists, researchers and staff on the Canadian Area Company and scientific establishments around the globe who’ve continued to step up and contribute to the development of science. It is a large day for Canada. It is a large day for all of us.
Whereas the house company plans to ship 4 astronauts across the moon in 2024, it needs to try a two-person lunar touchdown as early as 2025, with the launch of Artemis III.
With the Artemis missions, NASA goals to survey extra of the lunar floor with the plan to construct a sustainable presence on the moon. The final word purpose is to go to Mars by the top of the 2030s.
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The Artemis II crew represents hundreds of people that work tirelessly to take us to the celebs, stated NASA Administrator Invoice Nelson.
That is their crew. That is our crew. That is humanity’s crew.
Canada’s present astronaut corps is made up of simply 4 folks, together with Hansen of London, Ontario, a colonel and CF-18 pilot within the Royal Canadian Air Pressure.
David Saint-Jacques, 53, an astrophysicist and doctor from Montreal was the one member of the workforce who has already been to house. He flew to the Worldwide Area Station in 2018 and was chosen for the corps in 2009 together with Hansen.
Chris Hadfield, who many Canadians know from his fashionable movies whereas deployed to the ISS, retired from this system in 2013.
The Canadian astronaut corps additionally consists of the take a look at pilot and the Air Pressure lieutenant colonel. Joshua Kutryk, 41, of Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., and Jennifer Sidey-Gibbons, 34, a mechanical engineer and professor on the College of Cambridge in Calgary.
Astronauts apart, Canada is engaged in cutting-edge analysis that can assist form the Artemis program.
To know extra:
50 years after Apollo 11, new Canadian astronauts dream of following within the footsteps of Neil Armstrong
For instance, take the Deep Area Meals Problem, launched in 2021, by which contributors should develop methods to supply meals within the harsh environments of deep house with few assets that can in the future be wanted to maintain life.
Canada and NASA have labored collectively for the reason that early Sixties and the heydays of the US house program, when Canada’s first satellite tv for pc was launched on a US rocket.
The Canadarm, that iconic maple-leaf emblazoned system from the shuttle program, would later cement Canada’s standing as a rustic america might rely on.
Our partnership, fueled by daring initiatives and scientific excellence, and most significantly Canadian, couldn’t be extra proud to share this second with our American companions and mates, stated Trade Minister François-Philippe Champagne.
It is not nearly going again to the moon. It is about investing sooner or later. It is about potentialities. It is about seizing the alternatives of this house financial system, from well being to meals safety to local weather change and rather more, in order we embark on this new house age collectively, let’s seize the second. Let’s be formidable and collectively. We encourage the younger individuals who watch us to succeed in for the celebs and turn into the subsequent technology of scientists, engineers and explorers.
– with recordsdata from International Information Saba Aziz and The Canadian Press
