NASA's Artemis II moon rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad39-B Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (Image Credit: AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

By The Canadian Press

High-stakes flight

Canadians gather to watch Artemis II moon launch

Apr 1, 2026 | 6:20 PM

Canadians across the country watched the launch of Artemis II with a mix of excitement and nervousness, erupting into loud applause at the sight of the fiery liftoff of the historic moon mission.

Gathered at historical sites, museums, libraries and arts centres, cheered on Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, who is serving as mission specialist for Artemis II.

NASA’s launch team loaded more than 700,000 gallons of fuel into the 32-story Space Launch System rocket early Wednesday, setting the stage for blast off in the evening at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Artemis astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Hansen are on board. They’ll hurtle several thousand miles beyond the moon, hang a U-turn and then come straight back. No circling around the moon, no stopping for a moonwalk – just a quick out-and-back lasting less than 10 days. NASA promises more boot prints in the gray lunar dust, but not before a couple practice missions.

The Artemis II crew will spend a day in orbit around Earth checking their capsule before firing the main engine that will propel them to the moon.

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Unlike the Apollo missions that sent astronauts to the moon from 1968 through 1972, Artemis’ debut crew includes a woman, a person of color and a Canadian citizen. Artemis II is the opening shot of NASA’s grand plans for a permanent moon base. The space program is aiming for a moon landing near the lunar south pole in 2028.

Dozens of people gathered to watch the launch outside of Ottawa’s National Arts Centre, where a livestream was displayed on the Kipnes Lantern, a five-storey glass tower.

Victoria McTaggart, who was at the watch event, said she has followed Hansen’s career for several years and that this is “such a memorable occasion for him.”

“We should all be very proud of the effort that he and his family have put into this,” she said. “There’s so much science that we learn from all of this, and so I think that’s really important.”

“To think that a young boy from a small town….has made it this far just tells you what hard work can achieve.”

A watch event was also held at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa.

Tim Haltigin, senior scientist of lunar and planetary science at the Canadian Space Agency, said the whole country was captivated.

“This is one of the greatest moments potentially in the history of Canadian space exploration, so for sure everyone’s really, really ready to go,” he said before the launch. 

“This is really a celebration not just for Jeremy, for the Canadian Space Agency, this is a celebration for Canada, the entire space program.”

In Vancouver, people met at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, while Halifax residents watched the launch from the Discovery Centre.

Hansen, a 50-year-old from London, Ont., is the first non-American to travel beyond low Earth orbit.

He is joined by veteran NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch.

The historic 10-day lunar fly-around will see humanity travel to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 1, 2026. 

—With files from Kelly Geraldine Malone