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What does an astronaut do for an encore? Jeremy Hansen is about to find out.
The Canadian Space Agency announced Monday that Hansen “will pursue new professional opportunities” this fall.
What he’ll do next, Hansen has not elaborated on just yet — though he’ll continue to serve as a reservist with the Royal Canadian Air Force.
But his predecessors have shown there are many ways for Canadian astronauts to chart a bold new path, and there is life after space.
Astronaut Jeremy Hansen travelled around the moon aboard the Artemis II mission only a few months ago, in April. The Canadian Space Agency announced Monday that Hansen is retiring from the agency and pursuing other opportunities.
Here’s a look at what some of the country’s high-flying astronauts did after hanging up their spacesuits.
Marc Garneau
Marc Garneau was one of the country’s first six astronauts, and the first to make it to space.
He travelled to space on three occasions (1984, 1996 and 2000) and later became the president of the Canadian Space Agency.
After that came politics: Garneau was elected as a Liberal MP in 2008, and he went on to serve as the country’s transport minister and foreign affairs minister.
He resigned from the House of Commons in 2023 and died last year, at the age of 76.
Roberta Bondar
Roberta Bondar was a member of the same inaugural group of Canadian astronauts as Garneau.
Bondar, who earned four degrees before becoming an astronaut, was also Canada’s first female astronaut — and, as her Canadian Space Agency biography notes, also “the world’s first neurologist in space.”
Her voyage to space came aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 1992. She left the agency later that year.
Her post-astronaut life has included many pursuits, including public speaking, research and photography.
Chris Hadfield
Chris Hadfield made three space flights of his own during a 21-year career as an astronaut.
He was also the first Canadian to perform a spacewalk.
He retired from the Canadian Space Agency in 2013 and has since released an album, done work in television and written five books — including two thrillers and a children’s book.
Julie Payette
Julie Payette was selected as an astronaut in 1992, the same year as Hadfield.
Payette went to space twice — first in 1999, and again in 2009.
In July 2017, news broke that Payette would become the country’s 29th governor general. She was sworn in that fall.
Payette later resigned as governor general in January 2021, amid a scandal over the workplace culture at Rideau Hall.
Bjarni Tryggvason
Like Garneau and Bondar, Bjarni Tryggvason was one of the original six Canadians selected as astronauts.
His sole trip to space was in 1997, when he served as a payload specialist aboard the space shuttle Discovery.
Tryggvason retired from the Canadian Space Agency in 2008.
The following year, he was part of an effort to fly a replica of the Silver Dart biplane, to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of its historic flight. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t co-operate on the anniversary itself.
He died at the age of 76 in 2022.
