HOUSTON — Canada’s Artemis II astronaut Jeremy Hansen says he and his crewmates treated themselves to a pre-launch cinema night, watching the new space film Project Hail Mary with their families while preparing to fly around the moon.
Hansen, speaking Saturday during a live televised event arranged by the Canadian Space Agency, called the screening “a real treat” as the quartet readied for Wednesday’s scheduled liftoff. The movie, starring fellow Canadian Ryan Gosling, has drawn strong reviews; Gosling also sent best wishes to the Artemis II crew ahead of the mission, organizers said.
“Art imitates science and vice versa,” Hansen said, adding that the film’s story — about someone going out and doing what was necessary to save humanity — was “such an inspirational example” and “a pretty extraordinary example that we can all follow.” He and his crewmates watched the film together with their families in the days before the lunar fly-around, the agency said.
The screening offered a human, cultural counterpoint to the technical bustle surrounding Artemis II, NASA’s first crewed test flight around the moon in the Artemis programme. Hansen is making history on the mission as the first non‑U.S. citizen to travel as part of a lunar crew, a milestone Canada and its space agency have highlighted in outreach events tied to the launch.
The Canadian Space Agency organized the live event to share the crew’s final preparations with the public, underscoring the international nature of Artemis II. The mission’s four astronauts will test the Orion spacecraft and mission systems during a roughly week‑to‑ten‑day voyage that will carry them on a lunar flyby and return to Earth; the flight is being closely watched by space agencies and enthusiasts around the world.
Hansen’s remarks, mixing popular culture and spaceflight, reflect a broader trend of NASA and partner agencies using imagery, storytelling and media to engage broader audiences as Artemis missions move from development into operational flights. Project Hail Mary’s appearance on the crew’s watchlist was one of several pop culture nods that have accompanied the buildup to Artemis II, which has been accompanied by live telemetry and imagery previews as mission teams finalize checks ahead of launch.
With liftoff imminent, the screening and Gosling’s note of support offered a moment of levity and camaraderie before the technical and historical aspects of the mission take center stage. Canada’s participation through Hansen marks a symbolic expansion of the international footprint in lunar exploration as Artemis proceeds toward its longer-term goals of sustainable human presence on and around the moon.