Moon-bound astronaut Jeremy Hansen’s roots run deep in Downie Township

Astronaut Jeremy Hansen in front of the space shuttle, Artemis II, that will take him and his fellow NASA crew members to the moon after it launches next month.

When Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen heads to the moon next month aboard NASA’s Artemis II mission, he will carry with him not only the hopes of a country, but also deep family roots in Perth South.

Hansen, who is set to become the first Canadian to leave Earth’s orbit, has a strong connection to a Perth South (Downie Township) farm where his grandfather, Alvin Good, was born and raised, and where generations of the Good family have lived and worked.

For Hansen’s mother, Nancy Hansen, that farm was a constant part of her childhood. After her mother died when she was three, Nancy Hansen and her siblings spent nearly every summer on the family farm with their grandparents, Cora and John Good, while Nancy Hansen’s uncle, Robert Good, ran the operation.

“We spent almost every summer on my grandparents’ farm,” Nancy Hansen said in a recent interview with the Times. “We helped Robert with some chores, and we did have to clean out the pig pens and feed the chickens. … He never worked us real hard, but as a kid you think you’re working hard.”

That connection to Downie Township continued into Nancy Hansen’s adult life. After she married Gary Hansen, the couple remained close with the Good family and frequently returned to what Nancy Hansen said was always known simply as “the farm.”

Once Jeremy Hansen was born, he became part of that tradition too.

“The Good family’s quite close,” Nancy Hansen said. “I bet you once a month we were up at the farm.”

Before Jeremy Hansen started kindergarten, Nancy and Gary Hansen spent several weeks living at the farm while Robert and Marylyn Good were away on a trip to Hawaii, helping care for the children and the farm in their absence.

Today, the farm remains in the family and is now run by Robert Good’s sons, John and James Good.

Nancy Hansen said there is no question her son’s time on farms – both at his childhood home near Ailsa Craig and in Downie Township – helped shape the work ethic that eventually carried him to the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Canadian Space Agency and now the cusp of a lunar flight currently set to launch on April 1.

“He learned a lot of hard work values on living on a farm,” she said.

According to a recent Canadian Geographic profile, Jeremy Hansen first became fascinated by space as a child after seeing a photo of Neil Armstrong on the moon in an encyclopedia. That moment set him on the path he has followed ever since.

“One day, I told my family. I told teachers, and people started to use that inspiration to push me,” Jeremy Hansen told Canadian Geographic.

Even now, as he prepares for one of the most significant space missions in Canadian history, Jeremy Hansen remains characteristically humble.

“Where I always land is gratitude and being very humbled by the opportunity,” he told the magazine.

For Nancy and Gary Hansen, pride in their son is mixed with understandable nerves as launch day approaches.

“We’re pretty happy for him, nervous too,” Nancy Hansen said. “It’s a bit of a dangerous mission, but he’s wanted to since he was five years old.”

And while Jeremy Hansen’s journey is taking him farther from Earth than any Canadian has ever gone, Nancy Hansen said his connection to Perth South remains strong.

“Downie Township means a lot to our family and to Jeremy too,” she said. “We spent many, many hours on that farm.”