On July 6, 2026, just a few days after helping Canada celebrate its national day, Canadian astronaut and icon Jeremy Hansen announced his retirement from the Canadian Space Agency.

As the first Canadian to travel to the moon, Hansen has transformed Canada’s role in human space flight. While his retirement is a loss, Canada will still be playing an important role in the return of humans to the lunar surface.

Canadian astronaut Jenni Gibbons has been named lead CAPCOM (capsule communicator) for NASA’s upcoming Artemis III mission. I am honoured to be part of the Artemis Lunar Surface Science Team. And Canada is also contributing a robotic Lunar Utility Vehicle to the Artemis program.

Hansen’s lunar legacy

It’s hard to believe, but it is three months since the Artemis II mission ended following a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

This was the first crewed mission to the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972 and the first crewed flight test of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft in deep space. The crew comprised NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, together with Canada’s Hansen.

I have had the pleasure of knowing Hansen for 15 years and providing him training in geology in some of the most remote and spectacular parts of the Canadian North.

Read more: How the Artemis II crew trained to observe and photograph the moon: A NASA science team geologist explains

Hansen served as a mission specialist. This was his first space flight and the culmination of many years of hard work and dedication. From growing up on a farm just outside London, Ont., to........

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