US Sailing’s Hans Henken sets course for space after Paris 2024
Becoming an Olympian is a dream achieved by few, but soaring beyond that to become an astronaut would place Hans Henken in an elite category that distinguishes him from nearly every other individual to ever walk the earth.
Slated to represent the United States in sailing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, Henken’s career will take a major shift towards space exploration after reaching the pinnacle of sport.
“Growing up as a kid, the cliché thing that I was asked is: what do you want to be when you grow up? And I always wanted to be an astronaut,” he told Olympics.com in an exclusive interview ahead of Paris 2024.
Decades later and the commitment to that dream has never wavered.
However, what he failed to mention to those who asked him all those years ago, was that he would also become an Olympic athlete along the way.
With less than three months to go until Paris 2024, Henken sat down with Olympics.com to talk all things Olympics and the out-of-this-world career that he will pursue after wrapping up his Olympic journey.
As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
Ian Barrows and Hans Henken of Team United States compete in the Men's Skiff (49er) Sailing Race at the Santiago 2023 Pan Am Games on October 28, 2023 in Algarrobo, Chile.
Hans Henken - future astronaut
In 2018, Henken graduated from one of the world’s leading institutions - Stanford University - with an undergraduate and masters degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, all while competing on the varsity sailing team and representing Team USA around the globe.
When committing to study the demanding field, he explained that he “wanted to learn how things are made, how things work and I wanted to work on really hard problems, so combining engineering with being an astronaut just led me to be like okay, let’s build rockets.”
Ideally, the career that he will take on after Paris will entail just that - “building really, really cool engineering designs that help with space transportation.”
After his admission that his first dream revolved around space travel, Olympics.com asked Henken: “Is becoming an astronaut still something that could be on the agenda for the future?”
With a smile, he responded: “for sure.”
NASA opens their applications to candidates looking to become an astronaut every four years, he explained, and after being on the fence about whether or not to apply for this cycle, he decided that although his master's degree is huge step towards seeing success in the process, “the work experience is not quite there yet because all I’ve been doing is competitively sailing, trying to make it to the Olympic Games for the past 15 years, so there’s still a lot of work to be done.”
So, while it may not happen right now, Henken has his sights set on space.
“It would be incredibly crazy to be both an Olympian and an astronaut,” he said, explaining that it was the journey of Christina Birch, the 11-time national cycling champion and three-time World Cup medalist, who was selected by NASA to join the 2021 Astronaut Candidate Class, that allowed him to view his dreams as more of a reality.
“It was an inspiration to see that and to be able to say, 'hey, you know, someone has already done something along the lines of doing both and has applied that kind of experience forward into being an astronaut.' I was like, 'oh, maybe I have a chance'.”
So, following the upcoming Games that he has worked towards for over a decade, be on the lookout for Hans Henken as he makes a name for himself in yet another remarkable realm.
Henken and Barrows - the balance of opposites
In Paris, Henken will race alongside sailing partner Ian Barrows in the men’s dinghy class, also known as the 49er, that U.S. Sailing calls “the premier Olympic skiff.”
The pair grew up racing against each other but joined forces four years ago to take advantage of their opposing strengths and personalities to land on the top of their class in the United States.
“My relationship with him is awesome,” Henken said about his sailing partner, Barrows.
“We're kind of like yin and yang, a little bit. I'm methodical, thought out, make sure I plan ahead, and he is free-spirited, go with the flow, not a worry in the world.
Ian Barrows and Hans Henken of USA compete in a Mens 49er FX Skiff Class race at the Paris 2024 Sailing Test Event at Marseille Marina on July 11, 2023.
“I think that works out really well for us on the race course, because we're able to cover all different types of scenarios. If it's we need to plan, I have the plan. If it's we need to react to the situation and just kind of go with it, he's able to have that mindset already - plug and play and ready to go, and that makes us a really, really good team.”
The two spend countless hours together in and out of training and as they travel and compete across the globe, the opposing personalities of the two come in handy in all scenarios. Henken laughed when explaining that it’s even the simple things, like how he keeps them on schedule, but Barrows keeps them fed.
“It’s been a long road for both of us and it feels like a huge accomplishment to be able to do it together,” he said.
Henken’s decade-long road to Paris
Campaigning for the Olympics since London 2012 wrapped up, Heneken’s journey to Paris embodies the expression ‘it’s about the journey, rather than the destination.’
“The biggest thing that I've learned from campaigning for 15 years now is you have to enjoy the process. You have to enjoy the journey, because at the end of the day, the result-based goal can't always be the end all, be all,” he said.
“Because if you don't end up making it, it just feels like a huge failure and it's not. The time dedicated to this, regardless of if you make it or not, is time really well spent.”
That wasn’t always his mindset, though, as it was a challenge for him to get over the fact that he felt that the world around him valued winning above everything.
The mindset shift, he says, has “been part of keeping me determined and hungry day in and day out to continue to pursue this even in the face of my failures.”
The Paris 2024 Olympic venue for the sailors is in Marseilles, France, where the two have spent “a fair amount of time” training.
“The venue is amazing,” Henken enthused. “It’s a small bay surrounded by these giant, awesome mountains and the landscape is iconic and it’s going to be really, really cool to be able to sail there.”
For Paris 2024, sailing kicks off on 28 July in Marseille. Henken and Burrows will race for the first time on 1 August and the medal race for their class is on 6 August.