Go Bold #61: Astronaut Jeremy Hansen on the Artemis II mission to the Moon

The Go Bold podcast features senior leaders of allied forces so we can bring personal insight to important topics and events, and preserve those voices for generations to come.Today's episode continues on our objectives as we are honored to welcome Royal Canadian Air Force Colonel Jeremy Hansen to Go Bold! Col. Hansen is a CF-18 Hornet fighter pilot, and he is one of only 4 active astronauts in the Canadian Space Agency.In the years ahead you'll hear a lot about Astronaut Hansen because he has been selected to fly on the Artemis II mission, which will be the first crewed flight test of the Orion spacecraft which will launch atop the SLS rocket.As part of the Artemis II crew, Jeremy Hansen will become the first Canadian to venture towards the Moon, and in doing so he will be the first non-American to leave low earth orbit.There is a lot to Astronaut Hansen's path to space as one might expect, but in short, here are some highlights:In 1988, at the age of 12, he joined the Air Cadets.In 1999 he graduated with a bachelor's degree in honours space science from the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario.He completed Fighter Pilot Training in 2003, after which he served as a CF-18 fighter pilot with 441 Tactical Fighter Squadron, and 409 Tactical Fighter Squadron.In 2009 Colonel Hansen was one of two recruits selected by the Canadian Space Agency.In 2011 he graduated from Astronaut Candidate Training and started working at NASAs Mission Control Center in Houston as CAPCOM — which is the voice between the ground and the International Space Station.In 2017 Astronaut Hansen became the first Canadian to be entrusted with leading a NASA astronaut class, and that meant that he is in charge of training astronaut candidates from the United States and Canada.And in 2023 he was assigned to the Artemis II mission.This episode focuses on Astronaut Hansen's Air Force career, training for the Artemis II mission, and his perspective on flying to the Moon and being the first non-American to leave low earth orbit.It's an awesome chat with a great Canadian, so I really hope you'll enjoy this discussion.NOTE: We have also had the privilege to interview another Canadian fighter pilot and Astronaut, and Jeremy's colleague, and that is Josh Kutryk, who we featured in Episode 3 and Episode 22. They are wonderful chats which we highly recommend.Our thanks to Astronaut Hansen for his time and kindness. We wish him and his crewmates a safe journey on their mission towards the Moon! Go Bold!