Thursday April 9, 2026 | OFF-PLANET [5:41 pm PT]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Clearly Canadian Astronaut Jeremy Hansen is a skilled technical astronaut.
But his communications skills — including succinct analysis of big-picture ideas and simple summaries of technical things — are stellar.
During the Artemis II mission over the past nine days, Hansen during day to day real-time communications with NASA mission control has kept things simple and cheerful while getting the job done.
This aligns with his message today during a livestreamed media event from the Integrity mission capsule … that society puts too much pressure on people to be perfect. Just getting it done to the best of your ability should be enough, Hansen surmises.
As if to make the point, his chosen wake-up music yesterday was “Under Pressure” by Queen.
The crew on board is Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Mission Specialist Col Jeremy Hansen.
Just get it done:
With his three fellow astronauts (all American) sharing the platform, Hansen was speaking to the world on getting the space mission achieved. Th
This was during a question-and-answer session with elected members of the US Congress. It felt a bit ballsy that a Canadian astronaut was telling US Congress on how to fund their space program, but he slammed the ball home. After all, the world depends on the ambition and the funding of the American space program, within which the Canadian Space Agency plays a role.
In that livestreamed event today Hansen took the opportunity to be blunt about funding space missions. He said that rather than focusing on ‘programs’ that the work should just get done. A similar message was stated by US President Donald Trump a few days ago in explaining his budget recommendations for future space missions.
Hansen told one of the Congressmen that he hopes to visit the aeronautics museum in that congressman’s state and that at some future point an item from the Artemis II mission will be displayed in that museum.
Last day and splash down:
With less than a day to go in the tight quarters of their Orion capsule, the four astronauts are now wrapping up a busy day of preparing the cabin and themselves for tomorrow’s splashdown. That included where to store things and how much food to keep out for consumption during another half-day’s work on board.
The splashdown is currently scheduled for 5:07 pm on Friday April 10. The target landing spot is into the Pacific Ocean off the shores of San Diego, California. The astronauts will return to land by helicopter while a navy ship will collect and return the space capsule to NASA.
The shuttle will be travelling at about 19 miles per hour (approximately 30 kph) when it gently hits the ocean; this is a remarkable feat of physics to slow down a capsule that will be entering the Earth’s atmosphere much faster than the seped of sound.
A diver and medical specialist will first enter the capsule to see how the crew is doing, and then the four astronauts will emerge to the celebration of humanity.
Footnote on telecommunications:
Real-time live communications between a spacecraft hurtling through space and NASA mission control — and the livestream made available in real-time around the world… this is simply amazing.
===== RELATED:
- Artemis II: Computers, iPhones & email (April 8, 2026)
- Artemis II crew wakes up Day 8 to ‘Under Pressure’ (April 8, 2026)
- Artemis II: Day 6 takes Orion behind the Moon (April 6, 2026)
- Artemis II: Day 5 tech talk and Easter messages (April 5, 2026)
- Hansen chats with Canadian youth in Sunday morning livestream (April 5, 2026)
- Artemis II from Earth to Moon and back: Day 4 update (April 4, 2026)
- Artemis II crew: burning smell so far not of concern (April 4, 2026)
- Artemis II: Day 3 meals & tech work (April 3, 2026)
- Artemis II: Col Jeremy Hansen says “It was a great burn!” (April 2, 2026)
- Day 2 technology details for Artemis II crew (April 2, 2026)
- Artemis II: troubleshooting some technical things (April 2, 2026)
- Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen heads to the moon (April 1, 2026)
- Artemis Mission Updates (NASA)
- NEWS SECTIONS: AEROSPACE | OFF-PLANET | TECHNOLOGY | NASA