Shortly after 6:30 p.m. ET today, humans began their attempt to head toward the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. The Artemis II mission, if successful, will send the astronauts where no man, woman, or Canadian has ever gone before.
The Artemis II moon rocket took off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center this evening, on the first attempt of a six-day launch window. Four astronauts, including Canadian Jeremy Hansen, are now en route to fly around the moon for scientific study and prepare for future lunar missions.
“I am hoping that all of you see your greatness reflected in this journey around the moon.”
Jeremy Hansen
This is the first time a human crew has launched into space on the Space Launch System (SLS), which holds the Orion Spacecraft that is carrying astronauts in a fly-by around the moon and back for a roughly 10-day mission. The crew will conduct experiments aboard to examine how deep-space travel affects the human body, and record up-close observations about the moon’s surface.
CSA president Lisa Campbell said Canada’s work on the mission alongside NASA allows both Canada and the US to “go faster and further together.” She added that Canada’s history of investment in science has contributed to this moment.
“We’re here because of decades of public investment,” Campbell said during NASA’s pre-launch livestream on Wednesday.
However, the Artemis mission, and the Canadian Space Agency, have hit some snags recently. Due to budget cuts, the CSA cancelled its lunar rover mission, to the dismay of its scientists. Though its Artemis mission focus was preserved, NASA also recently announced that it was cutting its plans for a lunar space station, putting Canada’s development of an associated robotic arm into question.
Artemis II is technically a US space mission run through NASA. But Canadian footprints are all over it. While you’re awaiting the results of the multi-day, 400,000-kilometre flight and following the coverage live on NASA, read up on some of the ways Canadians have made our mark on this historic mission:
Canada’s first astronaut to fly around the moon
Astronaut Jeremy Hansen will be the first Canadian Space Agency astronaut to travel past Earth’s low orbit (where the International Space Station sits). Hailing from the small town of Ingersoll, Ont., the physicist and fighter pilot joined the CSA in 2009 and served as an aquanaut in 2014, simulating deep-space exploration through an underwater expedition.
“Canada, I am thinking of you, and I am hoping that all of you see your greatness reflected in this journey around the moon,” Hansen said in a video posted to X today.
A Calgary-born astronaut as Hansen’s backup
Jenni Gibbons wasn’t on the SLS rocket as all went as planned. But if Hansen hadn’t been able to board the shuttle, Gibbons would have stepped in as his backup astronaut.
Instead, the Calgary-born astronaut is serving as the crucial voice link to Hansen from the ground, providing mission instructions and coaching. But when the astronauts reach the far side of the moon, their communications with Earth will cut off. “I just want more than anything to see his dream actualized and see him fly in space on a successful mission,” she told The Canadian Press.
The mechanical engineer by training earned her PhD at the University of Cambridge and became the third woman to join the CSA’s astronaut program in 2017.
The Canadian prof leading training expeditions
The astronaut crew wouldn’t be prepared without its training on land, some of which was led by Western University earth sciences professor Gordon Osinski. The scientist, who has worked with Hansen for 15 years, is also the only Canadian on the Artemis III geology team. The team’s goals are to design the geology surface campaign for astronauts who reach the moon, and to ensure that the mission achieves its scientific objectives.
Osinski leads geology field expeditions as part of astronaut training, some of which took place in Canada at the Kamestastin Crater in northern Labrador. The Artemis II crew members joined to brush up on their geology skills for eventually collecting lunar samples.
The Canadian tech keeping ground control connected
Government IT agency Shared Services Canada also has a role to play in today’s Artemis II mission: providing cellular and satellite phones, Internet connection, and printing capabilities for the command centre on the ground in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
The department is also setting up enhanced security networks to protect sensitive mission data, it said.
For communication from space, Kirkland, Que.-based Advantech Wireless Technologies is supplying amplifiers that work over NASA frequencies used to maintain a line of communication with the Orion Spacecraft on its way to and from the moon.
With files from Sarah Rieger. Feature image courtesy Kim Shiflett for NASA.
UPDATE (04/01/2026): This article has been updated to reflect the Artemis II mission’s successful launch.