The royal family isn't the only notables in the coronation of the now King Charles III.
Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, one of the astronauts scheduled to go around the moon for the Artemis 2 mission, is also among the notables during the king's coronation ceremony held on May 6 in London, England.
Hansen, along with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Hammock Koch, will go around the moon around Nov. 2024 if everything goes as NASA planned.
Hansen's Presence On Coronation Day
Hansen led Canada's national procession at King Charles III's coronation day while carrying the country's flag in front of the Governor-General of Canada, Mary Simon, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, per Space.com. They are accompanied by Whit Fraser and Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, their respective spouses.
Hansen, who's a colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces and a former fighter pilot holding a Bachelor of Science in space science from the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario, is one of many notables from Canada to be invited to join Trudeau for Charles III's coronation. A CTV News article mentioned that Trudueau's office released a list of dignitaries and eminent Canadians invited to join him and Simon for coronation day, with Hansen already slated to carry Canada's flag in a procession of people who received national honors.
Aside from Hansen, the parade also included historian Margaret MacMillan, a companion of the Order of Canada, Cross of Valour recipient Leslie Arthur Palmer, astronaut Jennifer Sidey-Gibbons and the clerk of the Privy Council, Janice Charette, the Canadian government's highest-ranking civil servant.
Hansen mentioned in his official Twitter account that it is an honor to be asked to carry the Canadian flag for the coronation of Charles III and his Queen consort.
Why Did Canada Attend The Coronation?
For those wondering why prominent Canadian officials and people are present for Charles III's coronation, a British affair, Canada is part of the British Commonwealth, which the UK established in 1926 with its Dominions, per The Commonwealth. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the original Britsh Dominions include Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa, Eire, and Newfoundland.
When the UK convened the Imperial Conference, these dominions, along with the UK, agreed that they were all equal members of a community within the British Empire. However, while Commonwealth members still owe allegiance to the British King or Queen, they did not rule over them and are vastly independent of the UK's government.
The modern British Commonwealth came to be around in 1949 with the London Declaration, with Canada playing an important role in its evolution, per the Government of Canada.
Artemis 2 Launch
The Artemis 2 mission, which has Wiseman and Glover assigned as the mission's commander and pilot, respectively, while Koch and Hansen will serve as Artemis 2's mission specialists, is set for launch in Nov. 2024, per Astronomy.com, though the is a possibility of it getting delayed.
The mission will last for around ten days and serves as a test flight to verify the operations and procedures of the Orion spacecraft to ascertain its capability to put humanity back on the moon by 2025.
Related Article : NASA Finally Reveals Its Artemis 2 Astronauts
