Curtis LeRoy Hansen was born in Audubon County, Iowa on April 18, 1933.

He moved to Albuquerque to work at Sandia National Laboratories on the nuclear weapons project.

Hansen received a Juris Doctor from University of New Mexico School of Law in 1961.

He was a law clerk for the Judge Irwin S. Moise of the New Mexico Supreme Court from 1961 to 1962.

He was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 25, 1992, and received his commission on October 2, 1992.