CAPE CANAVERAL — Canadian Jeremy Hansen is headed toward the moon as part of the Artemis II lunar mission after a nearly six-minute engine burn to bust out of orbit Thursday evening.

Hansen, serving as mission specialist for Artemis II, is the first non-American to travel beyond low Earth orbit.

Also on board the Orion spacecraft, named Integrity by the crew, are veteran NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch.

After the spacecraft successfully completed a manoeuvre known as a translunar injection, Hansen had a message for the people of Earth.

“With that successful TLI, the crew’s feeling pretty good up here on our way to the moon, and we just wanted to communicate to everyone around the planet who’s working to make Artemis possible that we firmly felt the power of your perseverance during every second of that burn,” Hansen told mission control in Houston.

“Humanity has once again shown what we are capable of, and it’s your hopes for the future that carry us now on this journey around the moon.”

After Hansen spoke, fellow Canadian astronaut Jenni Gibbons, his backup, hugged her American colleague Chris Birch at mission control’s capsule communicator desk.

Gibbons is serving as a voice link from Earth to space, part of the team coaching Hansen and the other astronauts on key mission objectives.

She would have gone up into space had Hansen been unable to fly.

The historic lunar mission successfully launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Wednesday.

“We are going for all humanity,” Hansen said just before the final countdown.

They spent just over a full day near the Earth before firing the main engine to propel the spacecraft on humanity’s first voyage to the moon in more than 50 years.

Lt.-Gen. Jamie Speiser-Blanchet, commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force, watched Wednesday’s launch from the Florida-based space centre. She said the experience was emotional and inspiring.

Hansen has been a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force for more than 30 years. Speiser-Blanchet said it’s really important for all serving members to see his achievements.

“He’s really just a wonderful demonstration of what it means to serve Canada,” she said. “(He) is such a good ambassador for Canada and demonstration of what hard work and professionalism and leadership and real humanity can do.”

The 10-day journey will see the astronauts fly around the moon — and they could potentially see parts of the moon’s far side that no human has ever laid eyes on.

NASA’s future plans for a sustainable moon base hinged on Wednesday’s launch going forward. The goal is to have a lunar landing by 2028.

Lisa Campbell, president of the Canadian Space Agency, said this mission will show the limitless opportunities “as we open up a new economy in the moon, and as we bring the benefits to space here on Earth.”

Canada’s space robotics, including its lunar utility rover, will play an important role as humanity explores deep space, she said after Wednesday’s launch. Canadians are also interested in power generation, position navigation timing and communications as space travel expands, Campbell said.

“This is Jeremy’s first space flight, so we’re thrilled for him, but he also profoundly believes that this mission will help show the world the benefits of space flight,” she said.

The astronauts were testing the capabilities of the Orion capsule after the historic launch. NASA said Wednesday night they did a “proximity operations” test to manually pilot it — much the way they would if they were docking with another spacecraft.

They were also able to solve an issue that could have become an uncomfortable problem during the mission — the toilet malfunctioned when the crew reached low orbit.

Mission control guided astronauts through some plumbing tricks to repair the lunar loo.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 2, 2026.

— With files from The Associated Press

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press