Washington (United States) (AFP) – A week after astronaut Jeremy Hansen blasted off on the historic Artemis II mission to the Moon, his wife Catherine recalled the anxiety and thrill of witnessing the journey from afar. The Canadian obstetrician-gynecologist told AFP that she has closely followed the mission carrying her husband among a crew of four, hanging onto every update during family phone calls and from NASA mission control. “It’s incredible to me to know that they were up close,” said Catherine, wearing rocket-shaped earrings during a video call.
Lifting off from Florida, Hansen became the first non-American to journey toward the Moon as the crew reached a record-breaking distance of 250,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) from Earth. Catherine and her children followed the lunar flyby from NASA mission control in Houston on Monday, and later heard Hansen share his observations in a family call. “Jeremy was describing…the fact that it looks so three-dimensional, like this globe outside the window,” recalled his wife. “He certainly will continue to describe to us and everyone else what it felt like to be that close to that celestial body.”
Before liftoff, Catherine said her husband gave her a pair of powerful binoculars to follow the space voyage. “Our family would lie down and look at various places on the Moon that he would identify based on his mapping and his study guides,” she said. Some of those sites were later observed up close by the Artemis II crew.
As the astronauts flew on the far side of the Moon, they lost connection with Earth for some 40 minutes during an expected communications blackout. That was the moment Catherine got especially anxious. “I wanted to be there for that, because as someone who has never flown in space, I wanted to make sure they actually reacquired signal.” As onlookers held their breath, she was surprised by the “energy in mission control.” “There was no stress or anxiety. Everyone just trusted that this is what’s going to happen: they’re going to lose signal and come back again,” she said. “It has been a very emotional week.”
Catherine and their three children also recorded videos that Jeremy was able to watch near the Moon. “When you’re out in deep space by the Moon, and you are listening to a video they recorded for you before you launch. That’s something,” the Canadian astronaut told a press conference.
“There’s been a lot of happiness and excitement, a lot of joy,” but also “some anxiety and some wanting to get him home safely,” Catherine said. She is now preparing for the moment when the crew splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, expected for Friday. The Artemis II, the first mission to carry humans around the Moon in more than 50 years, was considered a risky first spaceflight for Jeremy. Described by NASA as a “test mission,” the flight aimed to verify the reliability of the rocket and Orion capsule, which had not carried humans before.
At the moment of liftoff, Catherine was with her children and the other astronauts’ families near the launch pad in Florida. “It was absolutely incredible. And I think everyone is sort of at a loss for words,” she recalled. “I don’t think anyone was quite prepared.”
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