ldoto
May 14, 2009, 2:26 AM
A fighter pilot born in London that grew up in Ailsa Craig and Ingersoll, has been named one of Canada's newest astronauts.:cool:
Capt. Jeremy Hansen, along with fellow new astronaut Dr. David St-Jacques of Quebec City bring to 12 the total number of Canadians to join the astronaut corps and are the first new recruits since 1992.
They were chosen from among 5,351 applicants after a year-long recruitment process that evaluated such wide-ranging categories as knowledge of robotics and levels of physical fitness.
Hansen is a CF-18 fighter pilot and combat operations officer at Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake in Alberta.
He was born at St. Joseph's Hospital, and lived in Ailsa Craig, just north of London, until he was 14. He then moved to Ingersoll before heading off to military college.
St-Jacques has been practising at a small hospital in Northern Quebec and lecturing at the McGill University medical school in Montreal.
The new astronauts will train at the Canadian Space Agency headquarters this summer before heading to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston in August.
They will also support two Canadian colleagues: Robert Thirsk, scheduled to take part in a long-duration mission to the International Space Station launching from Russia on May 27, and Julie Payette, a mission specialist on STS-127, scheduled to launch from Florida on June 13.
Capt. Jeremy Hansen, along with fellow new astronaut Dr. David St-Jacques of Quebec City bring to 12 the total number of Canadians to join the astronaut corps and are the first new recruits since 1992.
They were chosen from among 5,351 applicants after a year-long recruitment process that evaluated such wide-ranging categories as knowledge of robotics and levels of physical fitness.
Hansen is a CF-18 fighter pilot and combat operations officer at Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake in Alberta.
He was born at St. Joseph's Hospital, and lived in Ailsa Craig, just north of London, until he was 14. He then moved to Ingersoll before heading off to military college.
St-Jacques has been practising at a small hospital in Northern Quebec and lecturing at the McGill University medical school in Montreal.
The new astronauts will train at the Canadian Space Agency headquarters this summer before heading to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston in August.
They will also support two Canadian colleagues: Robert Thirsk, scheduled to take part in a long-duration mission to the International Space Station launching from Russia on May 27, and Julie Payette, a mission specialist on STS-127, scheduled to launch from Florida on June 13.
