Carney speaks with Artemis II crew as Canada

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke to astronauts on the Artemis II mission on Wednesday, celebrating the first Canadian to fly around the moon and marking a lighter moment in U.S.-Canadian relations that have been strained under U.S. President Donald Trump.



Jeremy Hansen, a 50-year-old Royal Canadian Air Force colonel, is the first non-U.S. citizen to fly on a lunar mission.



He is joining three U.S. astronauts on NASA’s Artemis II mission, a lunar flyby and a key step in a program aiming to return astronauts to the moon’s surface by 2028, ahead of China.



The 10-day mission is due to end with the space capsule's splashdown near San Diego on Friday.



Carney told Hansen, “Canadians couldn’t be more proud of you personally, both this mission and our collaboration with the United States," .



The prime minister also joked that Canadians hoped the preference was for maple syrup over Nutella on pancakes in the morning, following the viral moment when cameras caught a jar of Nutella floating through the microgravity inside the capsule. The maple leaf is Canada's national symbol.