‘Crew is ready’: Canadian set to be voice link to Artemis II mission

Jenni Gibbons was always drawn to the stars. Now, the Calgary-born astronaut is set to take part in NASA’s Artemis II mission, which will send humans to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years.

“So much of our life is enabled by space,” Gibbons said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

Gibbons is Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen’s backup. If all goes to plan, she won’t be on the rocket — but she will still perform a critical role in its launch and voyage through space.

NASA has targeted an April 1 launch for Artemis II, with a six-day launch window running through April 6.

The space agency attempted to send the four astronauts from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on a 10-day lunar fly-around in February, but the launch was delayed by hydrogen fuel leaks and helium flow problems.

If there are no issues next week, Hansen, 50, of London, Ont., will serve as the mission specialist during Artemis II and become the first non-American to travel beyond low Earth orbit. He will be joined by veteran NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch.

Gibbons is assigned as the backup astronaut to ensure that Canada keeps its seat on the mission in the unlikely event that Hansen cannot fly, the Canadian Space Agency has said.

While Gibbons has dreamt of travelling to space since childhood, she said she’s close with Hansen and his family and is honoured to play a supporting role in the mission.

“I just want more than anything to see his dream actualized and see him fly in space on a successful mission,” she said.

As an astronaut understudy, Gibbons has gone through years of the same training as those on the rocket. Ahead of next week’s launch, she must stay prepared and go into quarantine with the other astronauts.

In the days and hours before takeoff, Gibbons will also enter the capsule to ensure it’s ready to take the astronauts up.

As the rocket circles the moon, Gibbons will serve as a voice link from Earth to space — part of the team coaching Hansen and the other astronauts on key mission objectives.

The team is keenly anticipating takeoff even as it focuses on executing the plan they’ve been working on for years, she said.

“The crew is ready. I’m really proud of the way that they’ve matured and prepared for this mission and the team is ready to support them too,” she said.

It will be a monumental moment for a former Prairies kid whose childhood explorations of the landscape at home made her aware of the limitless possibilities of the universe.

While everyone marvels at the night sky, few become astronauts. Gibbons said she had great role models and mentors growing up — people who showed her that nothing, not even outer space, was beyond her reach.

“I just knew that it was a possibility,” Gibbons said.

Her mom helped plant the seed by taking her to see legendary Canadian astronaut Roberta Bondar speak.

She said she’s always been drawn to creative problem-solving and science. Blending those interests led her to engineering — she got a mechanical engineering degree from McGill before completing a PhD at Jesus College in Cambridge.

“When Canada announced they were recruiting astronauts, I just thought back to all of that curiosity and all of that exposure early on,” Gibbons said. “And I thought, ‘How cool would it be to be a part of this?’”

She was selected by the Canadian Space Agency in 2017 at the age of 28 — just the third woman to join the ranks of Canadian astronaut recruits — and soon relocated to Houston for training.

Canada’s role in the upcoming moon mission is critical, Gibbons said. The country has many experts in tech fields that support space exploration, such as robotics.

Investing in these groundbreaking technologies pushes Canada’s space expertise forward but also has an economic impact by creating jobs and inspiring innovation, Gibbons said.

Space missions also help Canadians understand their own vast landscape better.

“Space exploration is fundamental and important for the whole world, but especially for Canada because we are such a huge nation, where so many of our natural resources and really the heartbeat of our landscape can only be viewed and taken from outer space,” she said. “So investing in space assets is particularly important for us.”

Gibbons said that, given the grim state of global geopolitics, Artemis II “is one shining example of what you can achieve when you collaborate and co-operate and have a shared mission.”

She said this mission will take humans farther from Earth than anyone has ever gone, and allow the astronauts to see parts of the moon never before seen up close by human eyes.

The team has been working with geologists who want the astronauts’ own descriptions of the colours and textures of the moon’s far side.

“They’re also really interested in the way that those features make us feel as humans and our reaction to them,” she said.

That very human sense of wonder connects the astronauts in space with the people watching on the ground, she said.

“How many people go out in their backyard and look at the moon and spend time staring at the features? Or maybe, if you’re lucky enough to have a telescope or binoculars, you can see a little bit more,” she said.

“It’s just a cool thing to know that the Artemis II crew will be doing the same thing.”

— With files from Sidhartha Banerjee in Montreal