Jeremy Hansen 'so proud of Canada' after selection to moon mission

Astronaut Jeremy Hansen, a colonel and CF-18 pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force, will be the first Canadian to venture further into space and orbit the moon.

Hansen and three American astronauts have been selected for the Artemis II mission, NASA and the Canadian Space Agency announced Monday.

Hansen spoke with Newstalk 580 CFRA on Tuesday about his reaction to the announcement and what happens next.

The interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Graham Richardson: This, I would guess is not a short process to be selected for this kind of a mission. How long have you been in the mix, and there must have been a moment when you got the tap – what was that like?

Jeremy Hansen: I think there's a strong parallel here between how long it's taken for me and how long it's taken for Canada. Me personally, I've been working in the space program with the Canadian Space Agency for almost 14 years now. But this started long before that. Thousands of Canadians have ben contributing over the years to build a space program with a strong enough contribution and a great reputation, to the point where we've been invited to fly on this very important and historic mission, the first time humans leave low earth orbit to go to the moon in over 50 years.

I just think it's a tremendous nod in Canada's direction. I was so proud of Canada yesterday standing on that stage, seeing our flags, having Minister Champagne there announcing that. I hope Canadians realize that we did this very intentionally over time, and they should be proud of this accomplishment.

I know you're being quite humble about this, but this is a personal story. How do you think about this now going forward, after being selected?

I think it's still sinking in. I don't have any magic solution for how to think about it. I know I stay kind of mission-focused on these things, so it's kind of like, let's get to work. The first order of business is let's share this story with Canadians so they know what's happening, why it's happening, how we got here, which you're helping us do right now. And the second part of it is we've got to get to training, and testing, and developing. It's the first time humans will fly on this rocket, in this capsule, there's a lot of f work for our crew of four to work with the broader team to figure out how are we actually going to get out there, survive and get back. How are we going to implement all of the manual flying that needs to be done as a backup option? It's one thing when you have an automated mission out there with no humans on it, but when you have humans on there, you want every fighting chance you can have to get back home and so you want those manual backup options if you need them. So we have to do all that testing. I love that stuff.

So it's kind of easy to stay focused on it, but also at the same time, we want to share the perspective. That's really important to all of us at the Canadian Space Agency. We really believe in the people. We've seen their capability across our country to innovate and to bring real value that can help us live better on the planet as well through the space program, and we really want to share that as part of this mission.

What's it like inside the spaceship?

It's tiny. It's a pretty big capsule as far as capsules go, but it's going to be a pretty small space for 10 days. It's going to be kind of like car camping for 10 days but you're in microgravity, so that helps a lot. You're floating around, it makes a lot more space. There are four seats in there, but when we get to orbit we'll reconfigure the cabin, we'll take those seats apart to make enough space. We have some exercise equipment in there, it's one exercise device that we're going to be testing out just to keep us active during that mission. But its' going to be tight quarters or 10 days. But I know this crew really well, I've been working with them for a long time, They're absolute professionals, I trust them implicitly, but more than that they truly are just my friends. I couldn't be more pleased to be going to the moon with three friends.

What do you worry about?

I'm not worried now. I can't sit here and be worried for 18 months. That's just not practical. I know t=hat we’re going to identify some risks, and we always do in these test programs. The reality that you'/re laving that kind of safety of mother earth, you get out that far away from earth, you can't just turn around and come back. Once we leave, we'll be committed to that round-trip journey which will be about eight days. So we know things can go wrong. But we know we won't take any unnecessary or understood risks. That's one thing we understand. And we know that if we do bump up against something we weren't expecting, we have an extraordinary team to back us up.

What are you most looking forward to?

The view. Absolutely looking forward to the view. I haven't been to space yet, I've talked to so many of my colleagues who have been to the International Space Station, and just seeing the Earth from space is extraordinary. I'm going to be very privileged in that I'll spend about 18 hours in Earth orbit, I'll get to see the Earth up close and personal, and then once the vehicle is fully fleshed out, once we've tested the systems and we think it's ready for deep space, then we'll head off to the moon and I'm going to see the Earth get smaller in the window. Eventually the moon's going to get really big in the window, and then eventually I'm going to see the Earth through the moon, and that is an extraordinary perspective. I know it's going to touch my soul.

Do you have kids?

I do, yeah. I have three children: have an 18-year-old and twin 16-year-olds.

What do they think about all this?

It was really special for me to share this with them. They've watched my work with the Canadian Space Agency and then here at NASA at the Johnson Space Centre for a long time now, and they were really authentically pleased for me. It was really touching. Like, they're really excited for me. And I also know they believe in the mission, they've seen so much of the space impact that they know this is important work for humanity as well, and it's just really nice to see them excited and to share the journey with them, and for them to be a part of it.

We live in a cynical world, Jeremy Hansen. It's great to talk to you about something that's not cynical. Thank you very much.

Yeah, I think it's an important reminder for all of us. We need to set big goals, continue to set big goals. Space is one place we do that. But set big goals, goals big enough that it requires the global community to come together to accomplish them, and let's replace that cynicism with optimism.