Carney praises Hansen, calls hearing French from space a point of pride

By Canadian Press on April 8, 2026.

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney praised astronaut Jeremy Hansen during a call with the Artemis II crew, saying he was proud to see a Canadian in space and to hear French spoken.

The call marked the third and final space-to-Earth connection organized by the Canadian Space Agency, livestreamed from the John H. Chapman Space Centre in Longueuil, Que., with Industry Minister Mélanie Joly also taking part.

Hansen and his three American crewmates are returning to Earth after completing a six-hour lunar flyby on Monday, going farther into space than any humans before and breaking Apollo 13’s distance record from 1970.

It’s a step toward landing boot prints near the moon’s south pole in just two years.

Carney has said that, with Artemis II, Canada became the second country in the world ever to send an astronaut on a lunar mission, and that it’s a testament to Hansen’s “exceptional skill.”

The crew, after capturing images and other geological observations of the moon, is set to splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California on Friday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 8, 2026.

The Canadian Press

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