Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen thanked his family, friends and colleagues in a Facebook post in advance of the Artemis II space launch set for April 1.
“My hope is that Canadians everywhere come together to watch this mission unfold,” Hansen said in the video posted the day before the launch.
Hansen will be the first Canadian to fly to the moon and back. A statement on the Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) website says Artemis II will be the first crewed mission to the Moon since 1972.
Jeremy Hansen, who grew up near London, Ont., says in a CSA-posted video that he was always fascinated by space.
“I looked at a photograph of Neil Armstrong standing on the Moon, and I wanted to see what it would be like to leave this planet and look at it from beyond,” he said in the video.
Colonel Hansen joins crew members Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch as a mission specialist on board NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which will be launched atop the Space Launch System rocket.
According to the CSA, the mission’s objectives are to confirm all spacecraft systems operate as designed with the crew aboard in a deep space environment, a critical step in establishing a sustainable human presence on the Moon and preparing for future missions to Mars.
The trajectory of the 10-day journey to the dark (technically, it’s not always dark) side of the moon includes an initial loop-de-loop around Earth twice, making crucial checks along the way before setting course for the big space rock in the sky.
At the far end of the moon, the Orion will reach a maximum distance of approximately 370,000 kilometres from Earth before returning via a gravity-assisted free-return trajectory. The capsule will splash down in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego.
On flight day six, the crew is expected to fly between 6,400 and 9,700 kilometres from the lunar surface, which, according to the CSA, is close enough that the Moon will appear roughly the size of a basketball held at arm’s length. The crew could also become the first humans to see, with the naked eye, portions of the Moon’s far side never directly observed before.
Jeff Spaulding, a test director with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems, laid out the minutiae of preparation, such as the exact times for propellant loading, at a news conference at Kennedy Space Center in Florida a day before the final countdown.
“Our team has been working amazingly hard through these weeks and months trying to get this vehicle ready,” Spaulding said. “People are excited and ready to go on this first chapter on our way back to the Moon since the 1970s.”
Despite the excitement, many steps must go right before the countdown. One potential issue that could derail the entire launch is the threat of a fluffy cloud.
Mark Burger, Launch Weather Officer, said conditions are currently forecast at 80 per cent clear to go, with a 20 per cent probability of a weather violation during the two-hour window. The leading concern, he said, is the one that sounds the most benign, the cumulus cloud, because of the lightning potential.
“You walk outside, most days, you’ll see a puffy, what looks like a cotton ball out there,” Burger explained. “If that cotton ball gets more agitated and it grows throughout the depth of the atmosphere, that’s when it starts triggering our so-called standoff distances that could cause an issue for launch.”
The standoff distances can reach as far as 10 miles between the rocket’s flight path and the edge of the cloud. The good news, Burger said, is that the moisture in the atmosphere above the Cape is relatively shallow, limiting how high those clouds are likely to grow.
Other weather issues are wind speeds and changes in wind direction.
Solar flares could also cause problems, and NASA is monitoring a flare that erupted on March 30.
Burger said the flare is not directed toward Earth and that it is not a concern at the moment.
However, the “sun is an entity that almost has a mind of its own,” Burger said.
Spaulding was asked at the end of the press briefing what moment in the countdown feels most real.
“When we’re inside of one minute, that’s when it first really starts to hit home,” he said. “You can hear a pin drop in that firing room as you count from ten down to zero.”
For Hansen, as the countdown approaches, it is a matter of Canadian pride.
“I hope Artemis II gathers all generations of Canadians united by curiosity, pride, and a shared sense of wonder because when we aim high and work together, we can achieve incredible things in space and here on Earth,” he said in his Facebook post.
The Artemis II crew will attempt to launch their 10-day voyage once again on April 1, 2026, at 6:24 p.m. EDT and will be streamed live by NASA.
