LONGUEUIL, QUE. – Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, giving a night call from space Saturday (April 4), said Canadian movie-astronaut Ryan Gosling’s latest flick is “inspiring and uplifting.”
Gosling plays molecular biologist Ryland Grace in Project Hail Mary, a hit Hollywood film (and Andy Weir novel) about the race to save Earth against an extraterrestrial issue. Gosling himself sent the Artemis 2 crew best wishes in a video NASA released hours before the space launch on April 1.
During a media call connecting the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) headquarters to the crew in cislunar space, SpaceQ asked about their reaction to Gosling’s words. While Hansen was hovering at the mic, Artemis 2 commander Reid Wiseman and pilot Victor Glover were just behind, listening in.
While we can’t confirm this, it appears the crew may have been hearing of this for the first time. The floating Wiseman dropped his jaw as he spread his hands apart, and exchanged glances with a grinning Glover, who was nestled on top of stowage.
Employees and their children in a full auditorium at CSA began laughing as Hansen also smiled widely, appearing to consider his words. “That’s super-cool,” he began.
“We are all really lucky,” he continued. “We got to watch Project Hail Mary when we were in quarantine. That was a real treat that they sent us a link to view that at home with our families, getting us ready to go on our own space adventure.
“I would just say to Ryan, you know, it’s art imitates science and vice versa, it seems. And he did a great job in that movie. And it’s wonderful to see people really leaning into those roles. I thought it was just such an inspirational example. And somebody who goes out there and just gets what was done to save humanity – it’s a pretty extraordinary example that we can all follow. We all thought that movie was really uplifting and inspiring.”
Hansen, on his first mission, had already participated in two US television calls in-space with the crew prior to this event – but this was the first call dedicated to Hansen, and also the first including participation from Canadian media. Two other CSA events are planned at 12:10 a.m. EDT tomorrow (April 5), and 7:05 p.m. EDT on April 8.
Here are some other highlights from Hansen’s conversation. (Hansen shared his experiences in both English and French, but all quotes below are in English – some through an interpreter on the CSA livestream.)
On whether the images we see on Earth differ from the crew’s view:
“We see those exact things, but the difference for us is just how we see them, and how much of the window they take up. And so, gosh, in our first day in space, we just saw some extraordinary things. The Earth up close, and then by the time we had a bit of a nap and got up, the Earth was just so far away again. And then to come in for that translunar injection, we came all the way back to Earth again. We were out there at 60,000 kilometers. We came back to within 200 kilometres of the planet. And it just felt like we were falling out of the sky, back to Earth. And I said to Reid, ‘It feels like we’re going to hit it. It’s amazing that we’re actually going to go around and miss this thing.'”
On what surprised Hansen about space:
“It’s too much to recount. Definitely being on the rocket and feeling the rocket move, that was incredible. I felt like a kid again. And of course, the view I just spoke about, the view of the Earth and also the view of the Moon. And things have been changing. Here in the capsule, it’s like seeing the phases of the Moon, but with the Earth instead of the Moon. It’s been incredible for those of us up here. Riding the rocket for us has just been extraordinary, and we have all these simulations, but it felt so different for us in real life. And then the views of the Earth and the crescent Earth is really incredible.”
Hansen shared that the crew already was able to see parts of the Moon not visible from Earth, including the Orientale Basin, and that the Artemis 2 astronauts are looking forward to seeing an eclipse of the sun. The crew will also attempt to look for “lunar regolith lofting” from micrometeorites hitting the surface during lunar flyby, he added.
When asked what Hansen would share with youth watching his mission, he encouraged them to find their passion and to share that passion with others. “To get big things done, like we’re doing in this capsule, to travel to the Moon, to fly around the Moon, you need a big team behind you. And that’s true for all of us in our lives. We all need a team on our side to support us. So share your dreams with others, your parents, your teachers, and you will see that people will provide you support.”
Hansen reminded the audience that launch day, April 1, was by coincidence the birthday of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Now a colonel in the RCAF, he also discussed his six years in Air Cadets, which his father suggested Hansen join when Hansen expressed an interest in being a fighter pilot.
“Air Cadets, transferable skills, there’s a lot of them,” Hansen continued. “One of them was, you know, I learned to fly, got a glide- pilot license [and] a private-pilot license. That was a huge asset for me. You know, it was building some self-confidence at the age of 16 and 17, but it was much bigger than that. Self-discipline – I learned a lot of that from Cadets. It’s not all flying and fun. Some of it is marching and parading around, and you’ve got to iron your uniform and polish your boots. And so I learned some self-discipline. I learned a lot of confidence, because Air Cadets was pushing me outside my comfort zone. There were things that I needed to do to get these flying scholarships, that I didn’t really want to do. I didn’t want to be on a parade square in charge of a group of other cadets, necessarily. I was a little bit shy, and Air Cadets pushed me outside my comfort zone and helped develop that skill set. So I’m really grateful for the cadet program.”
Watch a replay of the live call from cislunar space with Jeremy Hansen
Decades of investment behind Hansen’s missions
Back on the ground, CSA president Lisa Campbell reminded media that Hansen’s participation is due to decades of dedicated investment on the part of government and industry. During a media scrum, she highlighted the Canadarm (Space Shuttle/ISS) and Canadarm2 (ISS) robotic arm programs as an example of this spending; very simply put, these programs give Canadian astronauts seats and science aboard NASA missions. (The ISS flight rate is roughly every six to seven years at this time, based on CSA’s partnership contributions.)
When asked by SpaceQ what CSA is doing now that NASA plans to focus on a lunar base by pausing the Gateway space station – the primary opportunity for MDA Space’s Canadarm3, which represents one of the ways in which CSA is contributing to the Artemis program – Campbell emphasized the conversation with NASA is ongoing. And as both MDA Space and CSA have said in recent weeks, she said Canadarm3’s planned robotics could have use on the surface.
“They’ve signalled a change in direction, which happens on international space programs,” she said of NASA. “I am very confident that with our international partners – NASA, the European Space Agency, JAXA [the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency] and all of the others who are part of the [NASA-led] Artemis Accords, we will figure out how to bring our advanced technologies to bear on what, let’s face it, is a massive endeavour. Canada is among the best in the world at space robotics, and there’s going to be a huge need for that on the surface of the Moon, in cislunar, and in low Earth orbit.”
Meanwhile, the early morning mood at CSA headquarters was celebratory – including with Hansen’s long-time astronaut colleague and friend. CSA astronaut David Saint-Jacques, who was selected alongside Hansen in 2009, told SpaceQ in another media scrum how it feels to be watching his longtime colleague at last get to fly in space after 17 years.
“Jeremy and I, yeah, we got selected together way back – it seems like a lifetime ago, and we’ve been really backing each other up every step of the way,” said Saint-Jacques, who flew to the ISS in 2018-19. “You know, he was my first flight instructor, and I introduced him to the ABCs of medical support.
“We ask astronauts,” he continued, “to do things that are borderline feasible. But as a group, we back each other up, and then we can actually accomplish these. So I was so happy when he got assigned, and he’s such a great representative. I mean, it’s really a fantastic feeling. It’s a kind of a privilege, also, to be part – in a way – of this adventure. I think, I really hope Canadians hear about this [and] think about it. We’re going to live with these memories for a long time thanks to his great attitude and demeanour.”