Astronaut Jeremy Hansen, the first Canadian to take part in a lunar mission, is retiring from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
Hansen made a historic trip around the moon in April as part of the Artemis II space mission.
“This September, after 32 years of military service and 17 years as a Canadian Space Agency astronaut—culminating in the incredible privilege of flying around the Moon on Artemis II—I will be transitioning from my full-time role at the CSA,” Hansen said in a social media post Monday.
Hansen, who is a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force, will transition to becoming a reservist.
This means he will be allowed to have jobs outside the air force but will also be permitted to work with the Canadian Armed Forces when the need arises.
“This unique position is a deliberate launchpad designed to leave the door open for creative, ongoing ways to support and enable the vital work happening in Canada with respect to space, and I’m excited for the new challenges it will bring,” he said.
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Hansen thanked the Royal Canadian Air Force, the CSA, NASA and international partner agencies in his farewell message.
“To all Canadians: thank you for believing in what our country can achieve when we aim high,” he added.
Prime Minister Mark Carney thanked Hansen for his “extraordinary service to Canada and his remarkable contributions to space exploration” and for helping Canada become only the second nation on Earth to send an astronaut on a lunar mission.
“Colonel Hansen united millions of Canadians around a single mission and pushed the boundaries of what we believed was possible,” Carney said, wishing Hansen “the very best in the years ahead.”
The 50-year-old’s connection to the air force goes back to when he was 12, when he joined the Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron in his hometown of London, Ont.
In 2009, he was selected by the Canadian Space Agency’s astronaut recruitment program.
In April, he became the first-ever non-American to travel beyond low-earth orbit as part of the Artemis II mission.
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