Earlier this year Jeremy Hansen was selected to be the first Canadian astronaut to participate in the Artemis program and was assigned to the Artemis 2 mission that will fly around the moon as early as late 2024.

Since then Hansen has begun training as a Mission Specialist 2 and doing public appearances. His crew which includes Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist 1 Christina Hammock Koch will be the first humans to visit the moon since Apollo 17 in December 1972, almost 51 years ago.

While the Artemis 2 crew won’t land on the moon on this mission, their trajectory as illustrated below will take them further from Earth than any human has ever been. And with the experience they’ll get there’s also the possibility they could fly on a future mission to the moon.

*Artemis 2 flight path to the moon. Image credit: NASA.*

As for Hansen, even though he won’t be landing on the moon on this flight, his training does include some very relevant and hands on geology training in the field. This type of training is not new to him or Canadian astronauts, it’s part of their overall training. For Hansen, it will provide him additional skills should he be supporting other astronauts on the moon or should he ever get the opportunity to visit the moon himself.

As he trains for his mission, Hansen is sharing his thoughts including a video log (vlog). Here are two entries on his recent training in the field in northern Labrador at the Kamestastin meteorite impact crater, also called Mistastin.

Video 1: Training for the Moon in Canada (part 1 of 2)