Canadians set to make history on Artemis II moon mission

Humanity will soon be returning to the moon, as NASA’s Artemis II is set to blast off as soon as Sunday.

Something which hasn’t happened in more than fifty years, is about to happen again, and this time with a Canadian as a key figure.

Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen will be on board as the spacecraft orbits the moon, paving the way for future missions to land on the surface.

Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen will be on board as the spacecraft orbits the moon, paving the way for future missions to land on the surface.

“By flying a Canadian on Artemis II, Canada will become the second country to fly an astronaut to the moon,” said Jamie Sévingny, the space exploration development director with the Canadian Space Agency. “This is huge!”

“Artemis is a historic turning point,” said The Globe and Mail science reporter Ivan Semeniuk. “It is returning people to the moon, something we haven’t seen since the Apollo era.”

Picking up where mankind left off more than a half-century ago, southern Ontario’s Jeremy Hansen is about to go where only a few have gone before: flying around the moon and returning home.

“When the day comes and it’s time, I’ll be fired up, and I’ll be just firing on all cylinders riding that rocket to space,” said Hansen.

But when that day comes isn’t clear — the launch of Artemis II was pushed back due to cold weather, from this Friday to Sunday, and failing then, it could launch next Tuesday, Wednesday, or be delayed until next month.

“The ability for this mission to launch in February hinges on the wet dress rehearsal,” said Semeniuk.

That wet dress rehearsal, where the rocket is fueled and taken through a countdown without the crew onboard, began earlier Monday and is expected to wrap by the evening.

READ MORE: Artemis II crew and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen ready for historic moon mission

“We’ll find out more tomorrow — there’s a conference that’s planned for tomorrow following the wet dress rehearsal,” said Sévingny.

Once the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket launches, Hansen and three American astronauts — mission commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialist Christina Koch — will fly through space for 10 days on the Orion spacecraft.

Traveling as far as 370,000 kilometers away from Earth, a distance equal to driving from the east coast of Canada to the west 67 times.

“Artemis II is essentially a test flight, in the sense that it’s the first time a crew will fly on this new NASA vehicle,” said Semeniuk.

The crew will perform extensive tests on the spacecraft, each of them taking on multiple jobs, including Hansen.

“He’s been involved in procedures related to learning about the Orion spacecraft, about the SLS rocket,” said Sévingny.

They will also become the first humans to see the dark side of the moon since 1972.

“Potentially seeing some parts of the moon’s surface that human eyes have never seen,” said Semeniuk.

The Artemis II mission is setting the stage for future missions to land on the moon, and establish a permanent human presence there.

The Canadian Space Agency is developing the next generation of the Canadarm, Canadarm3, for use in NASA’s planned gateway lunar orbital outpost, and the agency says that work is why a Canadian got to be part of this historic flight.

Before joining Canada’s space agency, Hansen was an F-18 pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force, and was born and raised just outside of London, Ont.

READ MORE: NASA’s Artemis mission reaches farthest distance from Earth