When Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen first floated to the window after the Orion capsule's bone-rattling launch into space early this month, what he saw and felt left him grasping for words.
He saw the sweep of the ocean first, and then, drifting into view, the rich, dusty red of Australia. And behind it all was the vastness of space, with the edge of Earth's atmosphere shining like a bubble of blue glass in the black.
"It was pretty extraordinary," Hansen told The Canadian Press at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston Thursday.
The enormity of what Hansen and his Artemis II crewmates experienced is still settling in a week after they returned to Earth, splashing into the Pacific Ocean following a 10-day lunar fly-around.
The four-person crew — commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialists Hansen and Christina Koch — were the first human beings to go to the moon in more than 50 years. Hansen and his crewmates have travelled farther from the surface of the Earth than anyone before them.
Hansen, 50, of London, Ont., grew up like millions of kids around the world — looking up into the night sky and dreaming about what it might be like to travel there.
Floating in space offered a unique perspective that was nothing at all like the flat, planetarium-type imagery Hansen had expected. There was a depth there, he said — a clear sense of boundless distances.
"Seeing the moon the same way and the Earth again and just seeing how they related to one another was really a unique human experience," he said.
The mission fulfilled a lifelong goal for Hansen. It was also a Canadian achievement. He became the first non-American to travel beyond low Earth orbit and the first person to speak French while en route to the moon.
Hansen credits Canada's long-term investment in space technologies for setting the stage for successful collaboration with NASA and the other international partners behind the Artemis project.
Unlike the Apollo program, which sent men to the moon from 1968 through 1972, the Artemis program is preparing for a more permanent human lunar presence and is laying the groundwork to someday send astronauts to Mars.
Canada was the first of dozens of nations to join the Artemis program. The famous Canadarm robotic manipulator system has been a key tool for space missions since the early 1980s, and is used on the International Space Station.
Investing in these technologies does more than just push forward the frontiers of human space travel, Hansen said — it also helps to tackle problems here on Earth.
"We can participate in human space exploration and robotic space exploration in a way that helps us solve problems we have for society on the planet," he said.
Space robotics has terrestrial applications, such as remote health care, he said. By learning how to feed and supply astronauts in a future permanent lunar base, he said, Canada can improve food security in its remote North, while investments in energy production in space can advance energy technology on the ground.
"Canada's got a lot of expertise in nuclear that can really help us in space exploration, but at the same time, small modular reactors would be an enormous capability for Canadians as we try to develop our infrastructure in the country," Hansen said.
The Artemis mission also gave the world something else: inspiration.
It united people around the globe at a time of war and geopolitical tumult. Social media exploded with ecstatic posts about the crew's visible displays of camaraderie, awe and joy as they circled the moon and swung back to Earth.
Space travel reminds us all, said Hansen, that "the next step for humanity is to truly learn to collaborate." He credited the United States and NASA for leading the Artemis program and creating an environment where many nations could come together to break boundaries and "do hard things."
"We need to be creating together, not tearing one another down," he said. "Lifting one another up is just what we have to do as a human race."
Hansen was a fighter pilot when he became one of two recruits selected for the mission by the Canadian Space Agency in 2009. He said fighter jets didn't quite prepare him for the experience of being shoved out of Earth's gravity well.
When you're a fighter pilot, he said, the gravitational force feels like the blood is being pushed up to your head. With a rocket, Hansen said, the feeling is much more powerful — the acceleration continues for a long time and the gravitational force hits in a completely different way.
"It makes you giggle," he said, smiling. "It's just a lot of fun."
Hansen returned to Earth just in time to spend his 23rd wedding anniversary with his wife Catherine. Space travel can be stressful for the loved ones left behind, he said, and he was relieved to get back safely to his wife and three children.
He was also delighted to get his hands on real food for the first time in two weeks. Space mission food is a long way from four-star, but Hansen said he enjoyed it.
When the Artemis crew was asked what they wanted most upon their return, Hansen said, they all said the same thing: a burger.
"We were all laying in our bed after all the medical checks were done and they brought in a hamburger," he said. "And it was like 11 out of 10."
Picture Courtesy: AP Photo/Ashley Landis
