HOUSTON \u2014 When Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen first floated to the window after the Orion capsule\u2019s bone-rattling launch into space early this month, what he saw and felt left him grasping for words.<\/p>\n
He saw the sweep of the ocean first, and then, drifting into view, the rich, dusty red of Australia. And behind it all was the vastness of space, with the edge of Earth\u2019s atmosphere shining like a bubble of blue glass in the black.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was pretty extraordinary,\u201d Hansen told The Canadian Press at NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center in Houston Thursday.<\/p>\n
The enormity of what Hansen and his Artemis II crewmates experienced is still settling in a week after they returned to Earth, splashing into the Pacific Ocean following a 10-day lunar fly-around.<\/p>\n
The four-person crew \u2014 commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialists Hansen and Christina Koch \u2014 were the first human beings to go to the moon in more than 50 years. Hansen and his crewmates have travelled farther from the surface of the Earth than anyone before them.<\/p>\n
Hansen, 50, of London, Ont., grew up like millions of kids around the world \u2014 looking up into the night sky and dreaming about what it might be like to travel there.<\/p>\n
Floating in space offered a unique perspective that was nothing at all like the flat, planetarium-type imagery Hansen had expected. There was a depth there, he said \u2014 a clear sense of boundless distances.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing the moon the same way and the Earth again and just seeing how they related to one another was really a unique human experience,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The mission fulfilled a lifelong goal for Hansen. It was also a Canadian achievement. He became the first non-American to travel beyond low Earth orbit and the first person to speak French while en route to the moon.<\/p>\n
Hansen credits Canada\u2019s long-term investment in space technologies for setting the stage for successful collaboration with NASA and the other international partners behind the Artemis project.<\/p>\n
Unlike the Apollo program, which sent men to the moon from 1968 through 1972, the Artemis program is preparing for a more permanent human lunar presence and is laying the groundwork to someday send astronauts to Mars.<\/p>\n
Canada was the first of dozens of nations to join the Artemis program. The famous Canadarm robotic manipulator system has been a key tool for space missions since the early 1980s, and is used on the International Space Station.<\/p>\n
Investing in these technologies does more than just push forward the frontiers of human space travel, Hansen said \u2014 it also helps to tackle problems here on Earth.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can participate in human space exploration and robotic space exploration in a way that helps us solve problems we have for society on the planet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Space robotics has terrestrial applications, such as remote health care, he said. By learning how to feed and supply astronauts in a future permanent lunar base, he said, Canada can improve food security in its remote North, while investments in energy production in space can advance energy technology on the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cCanada\u2019s got a lot of expertise in nuclear that can really help us in space exploration, but at the same time, small modular reactors would be an enormous capability for Canadians as we try to develop our infrastructure in the country,\u201d Hansen said.<\/p>\n
The Artemis mission also gave the world something else: inspiration.<\/p>\n
It united people around the globe at a time of war and geopolitical tumult. Social media exploded with ecstatic posts about the crew\u2019s visible displays of camaraderie, awe and joy as they circled the moon and swung back to Earth.<\/p>\n
Space travel reminds us all, said Hansen, that \u201cthe next step for humanity is to truly learn to collaborate.\u201d He credited the United States and NASA for leading the Artemis program and creating an environment where many nations could come together to break boundaries and \u201cdo hard things.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to be creating together, not tearing one another down,\u201d he said. \u201cLifting one another up is just what we have to do as a human race.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hansen was a fighter pilot when he became one of two recruits selected for the mission by the Canadian Space Agency in 2009. He said fighter jets didn\u2019t quite prepare him for the experience of being shoved out of Earth\u2019s gravity well.<\/p>\n
When you\u2019re a fighter pilot, he said, the gravitational force feels like the blood is being pushed up to your head. With a rocket, Hansen said, the feeling is much more powerful \u2014 the acceleration continues for a long time and the gravitational force hits in a completely different way.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes you giggle,\u201d he said, smiling. \u201cIt\u2019s just a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hansen returned to Earth just in time to spend his 23rd wedding anniversary with his wife Catherine. Space travel can be stressful for the loved ones left behind, he said, and he was relieved to get back safely to his wife and three children.<\/p>\n
He was also delighted to get his hands on real food for the first time in two weeks. Space mission food is a long way from four-star, but Hansen said he enjoyed it.<\/p>\n
When the Artemis crew was asked what they wanted most upon their return, Hansen said, they all said the same thing: a burger.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were all laying in our bed after all the medical checks were done and they brought in a hamburger,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it was like 11 out of 10.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2014 When Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen first floated to the window after the Orion capsule\u2019s bone-rattling launch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[49,48,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-610923","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}