With Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen part of the Artemis crew, the launch was also a special moment for University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine professor Ryan Hunter, who watched from Kennedy Space Center.

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Professor Hunter, who is originally from Canada, applied to the Canadian Space Agency’s astronaut program and nearly made it through the rigorous selection process, but was ultimately not selected.

2 On Your Side had a chance to talk with Professor Hunter while he waited to see the launch firsthand.

"I mean, [it's] just inspirational for the entire country, right? I mean, there's very few Canadians who have participated in the space program," Hunter said. "Just being a fellow scientist myself, I mean, you know, especially for the younger generations, this is very inspirational. It gives hope for for the younger scientists out there."

"I grew up playing hockey, as most Canadians do. Once I realized that that career was going nowhere, I turned to science, I trained in a sub-discipline of medicine. So I've done all my scientific training in the biological sciences."

Hunter said his interest in space began with a curiosity about life beyond Earth and what scientists might look for to determine whether life exists elsewhere.

"Along the way, I became interested in life out beyond Earth, and started to think about what we might look for if we wanted to know if there's there's life in other places. That's what sort of ignited my love for space and interest in it. And I was sitting at work one day during my training and saw the advertisement for the next round of applicants form the Canadian Space program and I jumped at it., and then here we are 17-18 years later," Hunter said.