{"id":594796,"date":"2026-04-10T13:03:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T13:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/594796\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T13:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T13:03:09","slug":"emotional-roller-coaster-astronauts-local-family-eager-to-meet-up-after-historic-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/594796\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Emotional roller-coaster\u2019: Astronaut’s local family eager to meet up after historic journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘He is just a great guy to hang out with … When he became an astronaut, we all knew he was going to do great things,’ Barrie Fire Chief says of brother-in-law Jeremy Hansen<\/p>\n

Dinners around the White family table are going to be pretty interesting for a while \u2014 after all, it\u2019s not every day your brother\u2011in\u2011law comes home with stories from outer space.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s the new normal for Barrie Fire Chief Kevin White, whose family just happens to include Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen \u2014 set to splash down in the Pacific Ocean this evening, off the coast of California,\u00a0after spending 10 days as part of NASA\u2019s lunar flyby mission<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a casual little detail that\u2019s guaranteed to raise the bar on small talk the next time the family gets together,\u00a0he says.<\/p>\n

Hansen is serving as the mission specialist for Artemis II and is the first non-American to travel beyond low Earth orbit.<\/p>\n

White\u2019s sister, Catherine, has been married to Hansen\u00a0for 23 years, having met in Moose Jaw, Sask., when she went to watch her brother get his Air Force pilot wings, the chief recalled.<\/p>\n

White, along with his mother and wife, had the chance to watch the space shuttle launch live at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center\u00a0in Florida on April 1 \u2014 an experience he described as \u201cincredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s spent the past week following the mission as closely as possible, noting\u00a0it\u2019s been remarkable to watch someone he cares about achieve a lifelong dream in such a spectacular way.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s so happy there. He really is living his dream,\u201d White said. \u201cWe are certainly transfixed to the TV when we can be. I try to block it out from my work day and then when I get home I put it on and I see how far away they are from the Earth and the moon.\u201d<\/p>\n

White is particularly impressed with the\u00a0level of communication<\/a> that has been\u00a0shared from the capsule over the course of the mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been able to see lots of live feeds with them, which makes you feel super close to them, although they are hundreds of thousands of miles away,\u201d White said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is always smiling\u00a0and he is just so excited. He\u2019s such a great gentleman and such a normal human, so for us to have him as a family member \u2014 and see how happy he is there \u2014 is really what makes it all super special.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"04092026jeremyhansen\"
\nArtemis II mission specialist Jeremy Hansen poses inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 8, 2023. | NASA\/Kim Shiflett photo <\/p>\n

White says\u00a0when he spoke with Hansen before the launch, he seemed to be in good spirits and laser-focused on the mission ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked him what he was looking forward to when he returned\u00a0and he was mostly just looking forward to the mission itself, but (he) was feeling strong and ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

That response, White said, didn\u2019t come as a surprise, given his brother\u2011in\u2011law has been training for this moment since 2009.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has been very excited for this to come to fruition,” he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even with what were surely his own pre\u2011launch nerves, Hansen still managed to calm his family\u2019s anxiety, White said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did give us one tip, which was that it will look like the entire rocket is on fire. He said that\u2019s OK, because in about six or eight seconds, the rocket takes off and hopefully everything goes smooth \u2014 which it did.\u201d<\/p>\n

When White spoke with Hansen ahead of the launch, he said the astronaut was particularly excited that he and his crewmates<\/a> \u2014 commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialist Christina Koch \u2014 were about to travel farther than any human ever has.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is pretty far \u2014 over 400,000 kilometres away. He\u2019s going to travel a little more than one million kilometres in 10 days \u2026 at an incredible speed. That\u2019s really hard to fathom for us humans on Earth,” White said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The crew aboard NASA\u2019s Orion spacecraft is scheduled to re-enter Earth\u2019s atmosphere and splash down at about 8:07 p.m. our time (5:07 p.m. PDT) tonight off the coast of San Diego.<\/p>\n

Once recovered, they\u2019ll be transported to a nearby base for medical checks and debriefings before returning to Ground Control in Texas, where Catherine and Hansen\u2019s parents will be waiting to greet the now-famous Canadian.<\/p>\n

When he finally gets the chance to talk to Hansen after the mission, White said his first question will be simple: How much fun did you have?<\/p>\n

\u201cI know what his answer is going to be. I know this is his dream and he\u2019s absolutely been able to live that out, which is pretty exciting for anyone, but when you see his face on the TV, he is just so happy all of the time,\u201d said White. \u201cI think that\u2019s one thing that is really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, however, for White, what stands out most about Hansen isn\u2019t the astronaut training, the historic mission or the staggering distances he\u2019s travelled;\u00a0it\u2019s the person underneath the spacesuit.<\/p>\n

Long before the launch, he said, Hansen was simply a grounded, genuine, family\u2011focused guy who just happened to be brilliant enough to blast into\u00a0space.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is really a very normal person. He\u2019s a great person to be around and he\u2019s an excellent family man. He is just a great guy to hang out with and, obviously, he is super smart. When he became an astronaut, we all knew he was going to do great things,\u201d said White.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also think he\u2019s a great spokesperson for all of Canada. He\u2019s done a great job in all of his interviews leading up to it, and I know he will continue to do a great job speaking on behalf of Canadians and his mission.”<\/p>\n

With about\u00a024 hours left until Hansen and his fellow crew members return to Earth, White said the family is riding out the final stretch with a mix of relief, anticipation and, yes, some nerves.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an emotional roller-coaster. I know when we were heading to the launch, we weren\u2019t sure if we were supposed to celebrate or cry, or what to do in that moment. You\u2019re strapping yourself to a rocket and it\u2019s a very dangerous mission, but it went successfully, and still, fingers crossed, is going quite well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"04092026artemiscrew\"
\nArtemis II crew members Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, Christina Hammock Koch\u00a0and Jeremy Hansen inspect their Orion crew module inside the high bay of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on Aug. 7, 2023. | NASA\/Kim Shiflett photo <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n