Maple syrup on the way to the moon? Absolutely
Sanikiluaq students ask Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen about what astronauts eat in space
A group of Sanikiluaq students, right, including Elisapee Arragutainaq, Cindy Alariaq, Laureen Ippak, Tina Novalinga and Logan Arragutainaq ask Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, left, how astronauts cook and eat food in space. Hansen, flanked by fellow astronauts Reid Wiseman, left, and Christina Koch, answered questions from young Canadians during a livestream April 5. (Screenshot courtesy of the Canadian Space Agency)
Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen told a group of Sanikiluaq students he had a taste of home during his journey to the moon.
“Here’s the maple syrup that we opened up at lunchtime today,” Hansen said, while a packet of maple syrup floated in front of him in the weightless environment aboard the Orion space capsule. “So we had a little bit of Canada on board today.”
Five Sanikiluaq students took part in a question-and-answer livestream with Hansen and two other astronauts in the Artemis II mission to the moon.
“What type of food do you eat in space and how do you cook it?” asked Elisapee Arragutainaq, while Cindy Alariaq, Laureen Ippak, Tina Novalinga and Logan Arragutainaq stood behind her.
Their question was recorded and played for Hansen early Sunday morning in a livestream on the Canadian Space Agency’s YouTube channel.
“I’ve only been eating space food for a couple of days, but Christina [Koch], she lived in space pretty close to a year. She’s eaten a lot of space food,” Hansen said, playfully deferring the question to his fellow astronaut.
Koch brought out several packets of dehydrated bags of food. Some of them floated in front of the astronauts because there is no gravity in space.
“This is Jeremy’s dinner,” she said, holding a transparent vacuum-sealed bag with something orange inside it. “In space you have to eat all of your food out of bags.”
“This is actually a shrimp cocktail,” she said, referring to Hansen’s floating bag of dinner.
Hansen and Koch are among the four astronauts on their way to the moon as members of the U.S.-led Artemis II lunar mission crew, which also includes Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover.
Hansen is the first Canadian to go to the moon.
The students were part of a contingent of young Canadians who asked the spacefarers questions on the fourth day of the 10-day mission. The astronauts were approximately 300,000 kilometres from Earth or about three-quarters of the way to the moon early Sunday morning at 12:10 a.m. ET.
Connected North, a learning resource organization for Indigenous students, arranged the connection between Nunavut and the Canadian Space Agency.
This Canadian Space Agency image illustrates the distance travelled as of Saturday and the trajectory of the Orion spacecraft, which is expected to swing around the moon before returning to Earth. (Image courtesy of the Canadian Space Agency)
The Artemis II mission started April 1. After taking a couple of loops around earth to pick up speed, the astronauts set off for the moon. The mission marks the first time human beings have gone to the moon since 1972. The journey will take them on a long elliptical orbit of the moon — Earth’s only natural satellite. It will take them further into space than any person has gone before.
The Armetis II mission is part of NASA’s long-term plan to create the first base on the moon.
There was feverish excitement in the YouTube chat during the livestream.
One parent watching the live feed from Sydney, Australia with her five-year-old daughter said, “She told me she wants to go to the moon when she is older.”
Other comments in the YouTube chat made some jokes about Canadian food. One said it was too bad Hansen couldn’t have dehydrated poutine on the spaceflight. Another wondered how Hansen was surviving without Tim Hortons.
Hansen ended the live transmission from space by recognizing the importance of youth in the future of Canada’s space program.
“Canada’s future in space is bright because of all of you.”
Live information about the Artemis II mission can be found on NASA’s homepage and on its official YouTube channel.
The students were handpicked, although there were other students who wanted to be part of the questioning, and the questions were prepared by the teacher.
” TEACHERS PETS “
Prolly the boy was hand picked by mommy
I see , there have problems with their toilet , should , have trained a plumber , to become , one of them .
@ SARCASM
They did have a “plumber” on board.
It was the Lady Astronaut (Christina) that was tasked with finding a solution.
They simply shifted the Capsule, such that the “frozen” plumbing would thaw from the sun, once the capsule was aligned right with the sun rays.