The Current - One step closer: The mission getting us back to the moon

Episode Date: October 23, 2025

The Artemis II mission will send four astronauts, including Canadian Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day trip around the moon and back. It’s the first crewed lunar mission in more than 50 years, testing what it really takes for humans and their spacecraft to survive deep space, and setting the stage for the next big leap.

This ascent isn't for everyone. You need grit to climb this high this often. You've got to be an underdog that always over-delivers. You've got to be 6,500 hospital staff, 1,000 doctors, all doing so much with so little. You've got to be Scarborough. Defined by our uphill battle and always striving towards new heights. And you can help us keep climbing.

Donate at lovescarbro.cairbo. This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is the current podcast. I was strolling on the moon one day in a merry, merry month of December. Now, May. May. May. May is the month. May, that's right. May is the year of the month. The year was 1972. Yes, it was May. That fall, Canadians were glued to the Summit series. But by December, another cold world fixture would come to an.

and Apollo 17, the last time that humans went to the moon and in many ways marked the end of the space race. But now we're going back. And Canada is playing a big role in getting us there. The Artemis II mission will launch early next year the first time humans have gone beyond Earth's orbit in decades. Canadian Jeremy Hansen will make history as the first non-American to make that long trip. Jeremy Hansen, good morning.

Good morning. This could happen as soon as February. A few months can seem like a long time. it also can seem like a very short time. How are you feeling with the clock starting to tick? Oh, well, for us, it's going to go super fast. Just one example, then the room where we go to pre-brief before we go into our Sims, you know, day-long sim with the team, there's a countdown clock to the second,

to that first opening of the window. And it still feels like we got lots to practice before we go. So it'll go quick. They also put the final piece on the rocket, right? Yeah, that was pretty. exciting for us to see the capsule get, get mated to the top of that huge rocket. We'll be in Florida probably in a couple weeks to see it in person. That's pretty exciting.

So you said there's still a lot to do. This is a question that the non-astronaut is asking the astronaut. How does one prepare for a trip like this? It's really fascinating. We just, we drill and drill and drill over and over again. There's also this element of it's a test flight. It's the first time we put humans on this vehicle. And so I think just nominally, we will be still figuring things out right down to the wire.

And there'll probably be things that we just haven't thought of yet. And we'll be like, hey, what about this? And we'll still be trying out all these scenarios. It's just such a complex thing to fly to the moon. It's a complex vehicle. And so we know all the nominal. We know what should happen. You know, that's very clear.

We have good plans. We have many backup plans. but we're always trying to figure out the what ifs, what if this, what if that, and there's so many, you can't practice them all. And so you're trying to constantly pick out, hey, these are the most important ones we should practice as a team, not just the four crew, but as the entire flight control team, which is, you know, lots of people are involved in that. So we'll be, we'll be using every minute we have to make sure we're as ready as we can be.

You recently took some questions from school kids in Montreal. Kids ask really smart questions. And one of the questions that they were asking was about your own fears. And you spoke about how some risks are worth it. Tell me about fear. This is a big thing and it's a dangerous thing, but also those risks that are worth it. Yeah, you're right about kids and they get right to the heart of the matter sometimes, which I love and appreciate. It is dangerous to go on an adventure on a journey like this.

And we have a good plan. And what I explained to that young lady was the most of the most of the most of the most of the most likely outcome is the four of us will be alive when we hit the Pacific Ocean at the end of the 10-day mission. And we've flown around the moon. And this vehicle is ready to go for Artemis 3 and take humans to the surface of the moon. I truly believe that is the most likely outcome. But I've also seen a hundred ways it doesn't go towards that outcome because they're just risks that we've accepted. Nothing is perfect. And things can stack. If we get one of these failures, no big deal. But if we get a few that happen. You know, we get a bit unlucky and we get a few of them stacked in a

certain way. We won't come home. And that's just a reality that we have to prepare for. And none of us in this program question whether that's worth it. People, humans have always done this. We've always explored. We've always pushed the boundaries. And the reason it's worth it is pretty simple. It's we are doing something for the benefit of humanity. We are bringing together thousands, like literally thousands upon thousands of people from around the globe to work on something that innovates new solutions, will help us live better lives in the future. But more importantly, just reminds us how to work together to do hard things. And that's what we need in this human society right now is remind us, hey, we can do better if we just try to create solutions as

opposed to constantly tearing each other down and complaining. Let's just get to work on fixing things. Do you think we forgot that? I mean, it's interesting when the initial Moon missions were launched and you had JFK making that speech, you know, we choose to do this because it's hard and we can do hard things essentially was his point. Have we forgotten how to do that? I don't think we've forgotten. I think it's always been a challenge to self-organize into these huge endeavors. You know, if you look at, like look at the Apollo 8 mission. This is the one where they the first time that humans flew around the moon and that was 1968 and it was a pretty dark time and so you could have said you could have asked the same question and uh there's

this great um story about how when they got back anders one of the astronauts on that mission received a telegram and all it said was you saved 1968 and i don't think it's new i mean we can all feel a little powerless to change all of the problems that we have in front of us. But what humans have always done has had hope. And what an individual can do is just wake up every day and say, hey, I'm going to use my energy for good. I am going to try and bring positivity into the world. I'm going to try and create solutions versus just complain about what's wrong. And when humans do that, I see this all the time in my job. I see literally thousands of people come together to do these things. So for me, it's not hard.

to imagine, but we just got to get to it. Does that answer to you some of the questions that people will inevitably ask saying, well, there are big problems here down on earth and that this is, you know, expensive and it's resources and it's time and we need, we should be focusing on those issues here rather than out there. Does what you've just said answer that question? I do think it answers that question and I, you know, I just want to acknowledge I also feel that same way.

We have to work on ourselves here. we have to stop, you know, war. All of these things, they matter here on the planet for individual people. And I have no illusions that Artemis II will solve all of these problems on the world. I do believe, however, that you are leveraging a big goal, like going to the moon, to bring people together, to demonstrate how to do it. And then there is this just very obvious ripple effect of innovation and technology that, trickles down and helps us to live better lives in the planet. So from my perspective, it's win-win.

One, you're setting the example. You're reminding people what we can do. You're lifting them up to do the same thing in these other challenges. And then two, the innovation. I mean, we take it for granted. But it's pretty significant when you bring these many, this many minds together with a common focus. Really amazing things fall out of that. What about the fact that in this moment, we as a nation are having this surge, this swell

of national pride? Something is happening in the country in which the way that people talk about the country, but also how people feel about the country. And you're going to be one of the most visible representatives of Canada that we could possibly imagine. What does that mean to you? It's a tremendous opportunity to hold this mission up as a mirror for Canadians just to reflect back. how great we are on the world stage, how important our contributions truly are. It's really significant that a Canadian is going to be on this mission and we'll be the second country to send a human into deep space.

It's a big deal, and the reason is because we earned it. We had to have a partner who was willing to leave space and allow us to bring our genius. That's the Americans, and they are great leaders in the space program that they allow others to come in and us to work together. That's an amazing thing. But then you also have to bring the other half of that. You have to rise to the challenge.

You have to bring real solutions, real innovation. And Canada has done that for decades. We are a trusted partner. We're doing it again. We're building and innovating for the lunar economy of the future. It's a big deal that a small country like Canada can play in that realm. We undersell it all the time. We always kind of keep ourselves too small.

And so I love that you're bringing it. this up. It's just a mirror. It's like, hey, look, Canada, if you're doubting yourself, I don't know how you could be. This is a huge indicator of how amazing and how much capacity you are and you have. I'm going to let you go. But the last thing I wanted to ask you, you're doing the thing that kids dream about. Have you wrapped your head around that yet? I think it comes in waves. A lot of my time, you know, I really just have to be focused on getting the job done. And I sort of have to be heads down. But when I do take a step back or when someone like you asked me a question like that, of course, it's crazy to me that I have this opportunity.

I dreamt of exploring space as a young Canadian. I sort of naively thought it would be possible. Nobody told me that I couldn't. I was very fortunate that way. I certainly told myself many times, as I got older, I started to doubt myself. And like every human does, I started to think, no, that'll never happen. So, yeah, it is pretty extraordinary to me. But I think what's important to, you know, leave your listeners with is if Canada is going to be in this position, second country in the world is sent a human in a deep space in 2026, this is not our pinnacle.

So imagine what we can do next. It's a great story. And you are a great ambassador for that story, but also just will be incredible to watch this unfold. Jeremy, thank you very much for taking time to talk to us. I appreciate the opportunity, and I truly appreciate the support I feel coming from Canada during these busy moments on the way to launch. All the best. Thank you. Jeremy Hanson, Canadian astronaut, among the four people heading beyond Earth's orbit on the Artemis II mission. As you heard, the clock is counting down second by second, the clock he sees every single day to that mission early next year.

This has been the current podcast. You can hear our show Monday to Friday. on CBC Radio 1 at 8.30 a.m. at all time zones. You can also listen online at cbc.ca.ca. slash the current or on the CBC Listen app or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca slash podcasts.