Jeremy Hansen will be the first Canadian to break the bounds of earth’s orbit after he and three other crew members launch into space April 1.
Canadian Space Agency astronaut Hansen will be taking his farming roots with him.
Why it matters: Growing up on a farm prepares children for many careers, but there are numerous astronauts who cite a farm upbringing as influential in their lives.
Hansen, who grew up on a farm near Ailsa Craig, Ont., then attended high school in Ingersoll, Ont., was named as a crew member on the Artemis II mission to orbit the moon in 2023.
His flight was scheduled for November, 2024, but technical difficulties have postponed the launch until April 1.
The Artemis II mission will pave the way for future missions to the moon’s surface and in establishing an orbiting station.
Hansen has posted about the connection he sees between agriculture and space, often accompanied by a photo of him with a John Deere 8640 tractor at the former family farm on what is now Maguire Road, north of Ailsa Craig.
Hansen will become the first non-American to fly to deep space, as all of the previous astronauts from the Apollo missions were American. He was born in London, Ont., and raised in what is now North Middlesex. The farmhouse in which he lived was torn down several years ago and the farm is now part of the operations of a larger area farm.
Hansen is one of several high-profile astronauts who have been raised on farms, including Canadian Chris Hadfield and his fellow Artemis II crew member Christina Koch. NASA mentioned Koch’s farm upbringing in its introduction of the Artemis crew at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston.
Hansen learned to fly as an air cadet in rural Ontario and then attended the Royal Military College for undergraduate and master’s degrees. He then became a fighter pilot, flying Canadian F-18s.
He says he always has been interested in space exploration.
“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 a Canadian Space Agency video.
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