Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen shares moon mission reflections

Jeremy Hansen, the first non-American to travel to the moon, says nothing could have prepared him for the awe he felt in space—or the overwhelming support from Canadians watching from home.

The Canadian astronaut returned to Earth two months ago after the historic Artemis II mission, which took him and three crewmates around the moon. Speaking in Halifax on Wednesday, Hansen described a sensation that still doesn't have words.

"The things that we saw continued to put us into a state of awe, a state of gratitude," he said. "It really made me feel tiny as a human, as an individual, but very powerful as a human species—that we can actually do this and witness the Earth, the moon and then the galaxy spread out in front of us."

What surprised Hansen most, though, wasn't the celestial scenery. It was learning how many Canadians had been following the mission closely. He said he expected the usual "space nerds" to tune in, but the breadth of public engagement caught him off guard.

"The fact that people seemed to really connect with four humans, lifting one another up, working together, doing something really hard with an amazing team of support behind us, but having fun doing it," Hansen said. "That's really touching."

The four-person crew—commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Hansen—first learned about the public enthusiasm while speaking with their families on the way back from the moon.

Hansen was in Halifax to meet with students and speak to 300 people at the city's central library. Tickets for his presentation, priced at $5 or $10, sold out in under a minute. He described the experience of blastoff as hurtling through space at Mach 39—approximately 47,000 kilometres per hour—like being in a sports car that just keeps accelerating.

"I'd do it again. In fact … if I got off that ride and it was an amusement park, I'd just go and get right back in line and go again," he said.

When the crew reached their farthest point from Earth—406,771 kilometres away—they stayed focused on the next challenge ahead rather than celebrating. But when the parachutes opened during splashdown, ending their 10-day mission, Hansen and Koch grabbed hands. "That was the first time we felt like we really are going to make it," he said.

For Hansen, the mission has reinforced a simple belief: humanity wants to do positive things and find joy in taking on big challenges together.