A kid from Ingersoll flew to the Moon in April 2026 — the first non-American ever to make the trip.
His name is Jeremy Hansen.
Hansen was born in London, Ontario, in 1976, and raised on a farm near Ailsa Craig. At twelve, he joined the 614 Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron. At sixteen, he had his glider pilot wings.
When Hansen was in his mid-teens, his family moved to Ingersoll. He graduated from Ingersoll District Collegiate Institute.
From cadets he went to the Royal Military College of Canada, and from there into the Royal Canadian Air Force as a CF-18 fighter pilot. In 2009, he was one of two Canadians selected as astronauts by the Canadian Space Agency. He trained at Johnson Space Center in Houston for nearly a decade and a half.
In April 2023, NASA and the CSA announced the crew of Artemis II — the first crewed mission to the vicinity of the Moon since 1972. Hansen was on it.
The mission launched on April 1, 2026. On April 6, Hansen and his crew flew around the far side of the Moon and back — the farthest human beings have ever travelled from Earth. 252,756 miles.
They splashed down on April 10.
In June, Hansen came home. The Ingersoll Public Library put up a display in his honour. Space books have not stayed on the shelves since.
Mayor Brian Petrie put it plainly: “It’s still a little unbelievable that someone from our town is at this level.”
CBC News summed it up in a headline: “From our little town to the moon.”
