TITUSVILLE, Florida — Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen’s ride to the Moon is arriving now.
The Space Launch System rocket rolled out from NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building at 7:01 a.m. ET today, starting what is expected to be as long as a 12-hour journey to the launch pad. As the sun rose over NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the crawler-transporter inched out of VAB—first revealing scaffolding, then the orange rocket and its white side boosters. Finally it emerged, fully formed, into the sunshine just as the cold Florida day began to get warmer.
Two hours later came the crew. By then, the rocket had rolled further along its nearly seven-kilometer journey to Launch Pad 39B, silently moving just behind the four astronauts (Hansen, and NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch) as they stood behind the countdown clock at the KSC press site.
In what will be one of the last times to speak with Hansen before his mission, SpaceQ asked during the press conference: With Canada’s Moon mission so close, the question becomes: what comes next?
Canada has three other active astronauts, who are supporting other missions while awaiting flight assignments. Canada has a roughly 2% share of International Space Station (ISS) activities funded by Canadarm2 and related robotics, allowing for CSA flights on average every six years. (Artemis missions are allocated slightly differently under funding from Canadarm3 and related Moon programs.)
Josh Kutryk was scheduled to fly to the ISS this year, until his Boeing Starliner-1 mission was changed to uncrewed to work out spacecraft issues with the last Starliner crew test. Kutryk has not yet been reassigned. Jenni Gibbons is backup to Artemis 2, and will soon be eligible again for a new assignment, while David Saint-Jacques’ last flight to space completed in 2019.
This is also just the human side of the Canadian space program, which obviously also means not only government work, but a burgeoning Canadian industry working towards sovereign launch, defence contracts and building out capabilities in Canada’s north—all things that have been highlighted by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in recent weeks, in some cases alongside funding.
Hansen, naturally focusing on the human spaceflight side of things given his role as an astronaut, paid tribute to the decades of collaboration between Canada and the U.S.
“I’ve really applauded the American space leadership, because they’ve carved out space for Canada to hone some of our skills, to develop workforce in specific areas, and to bring that knowledge. And the future for Canada kind of looks like where the international collaboration wants to go. We aren’t leading that collaboration. NASA is leading that collaboration, inviting our participation. We have skill sets, and I know Canada will rise to the challenge,” he said.
NASA, of course, is still determining its future for fiscal 2026 after the Trump administration recommended an overall budget cut to $18.8 billion USD ($26.2 billion CAD). But Congress’ in-progress minibus bill including NASA recommended increasing that spending to a slightly less than average $24.4 billion USD (nearly $34 billion CAD). Discussions are ongoing, with Congress attempting to wrap everything up by the time this past year’s funding expires on Jan. 30.
But early proposed cuts to the Gateway program are no longer in process, providing a secure pathway for at least the next fiscal year for MDA Space’s Canadarm3 and related Canadian space contracts for industry. And Hansen expressed confidence in industry on both sides of the border adapting to the budget.
“No matter what their [NASA’s] future is, that’s a workforce that is trained to do extraordinary things. And they’ll be redirected as we adapt and continue to do extraordinary things. And that’s the same story in Canada,” he said.
“When we were asked to join Artemis, we started to lean into developing new robotic systems for deep space,” Hansen continued, also paying tribute to Canadian industry vehicles for Moon exploration like the Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program (LEAP).
“We’ll just bring that workforce to bear to meet joint collective objectives,” Hansen said, then said the mission—to him—represents a step along that journey. “I’m actually pretty pumped to see that, because in just a few weeks you’re going to see four humans fly around the Moon. And if we’re doing that now, imagine what we can do next. I’m pretty pumped to see that come to fruition.”
In an individual interview with SpaceQ at KSC later on Jan. 17, Artemis 2 mission manager Matt Ramsey said the integration of Canada as a mission member on the crew has been seamless, and he said he has enjoyed working with both Hansen and his backup, Jenni Gibbons. As for discussions about the budget, NASA’s direction, and the recent changeover to a new agency administrator, Ramsey said the agency aims to let its workforce focus and to instead screen these matters for the upper levels of management.
“The other stuff is noise, in my opinion,” Ramsey said, clarifying that he means that the focus of the Artemis 2 ground team is in getting the mission safely off the ground. “The workforce, and the folks that are tightening the bolts and running the tests and getting us to the point where we can meet those milestones, everything’s just really focused on the safety.”
Going forward, Ramsey said that after Artemis 2 mission splashdown he is looking at some minor lessons learned from integrating national partners. For example, some information-sharing and data-sharing had to be carefully examined for the international cubesats on the mission: “That was eye-opening to me, and a non-trivial activity,” he said.
But the overall feeling among the Canadians and the Americans has been on working together. “We are collaborating with each other. I think that’s a very, very positive thing and something that Canada should be proud of,” Ramsey said.