Astronaut gives far out message to area students

Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen talks to students during one of a handful of presentations he made to area youth on Friday.  PHOTO BY CHRIS DAWSON.

Lieutenant Colonel Jeremy Hansen believes the future in space is now. 

The Canadian astronaut talked about the exciting space industry to a number of local students at the Canadore College Aviation Campus on Friday.

He answered questions about aliens, the theory of relativity, and cryogenics in space to name a few. 

He told youngsters about the exciting initiatives including the creation of space hotels within 10 years and told them they could be the first Canadians to step on the surface of Mars. 

“In the future we expect more and more astronauts, more and more people flying in space. Not just government astronauts but commercial ones as well so its very difficult to say who will be selected to fly in space in the future, I think it will change.” said Hansen noting current qualifications to become an astronaut include a Bachelor’s Degree and 2 years of work experience. 

Hansen has been a part of the Canadian Space Agency since 2009.  During his time there he has done underwater training off the coast of Florida to living deep inside caves in Northern Europe to simulate living in space.   

The Ontario native is still waiting for his first space assignment. 

Hansen believes North Bay’s aggressive approach at embracing the space industry is positive.  


Last November, Swiss Space Systems announced they will be offering zero-gravity space flights out of North Bay this fall.  

“To me what I see is a visionary approach, we often get stuck in the vision of yesterday and what I see and what I experience with some of the leadership in this community last night is I see that visionary approach,” said Hansen.

“They are saying they can be different and we need to lean forward and embrace this change.”

Mayor Al McDonald believes its important to have someone like Hansen give the message about how important this industry is and will become here in North Bay. 

“You heard Lieutenant Colonel Hanson say the private industry is going to create the space travel and the commercialization of space travel, so it just re-confirms the direction that we are going in the city of North Bay we have recognized this as a future industry and we want to be a part of it and having an astronaut actually reconfirm what we are saying I think speaks volumes to where we are going,” said McDonald.  

Hansen enjoyed the opportunity to speak with local students and was impressed with their knowledge. 

“I hope it adds to the understanding that I see a lot of change and when I come here and I’m excited to hear what’s going on in North Bay that that is a good signal that this is significant, but I don’t think they require someone like me to come here, it seems like they got it well in hand.”