CSA astronaut Jenni Gibbons: Taking on multiple roles for Artemis II
In , Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jenni Gibbons was assigned as CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen's backup for the historic Artemis II mission, the first crewed test flight of the multi-mission Artemis campaign, which is set to pave the way for human exploration of Mars. Assigning her as the official backup ensures that Canada will keep its seat on this mission in the unlikely event that Jeremy is unable to fly. It also offers a chance for Canada to influence how future Artemis missions will unfold and how to prepare for them.
Backup astronauts undergo the same training as the prime crew knowing that they may not get to fly on the mission they are training for, which makes the backup role a unique challenge.
CSA astronaut Jenni Gibbons takes part in a recovery test off the coast of San Diego to rehearse the safe recovery of the crew and the Orion capsule after their splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. (Credit: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Olivia Rucker)
Contributing to the foundation of future lunar missions
Jenni being on the backup crew provides opportunities to prepare the Canadian astronaut corps for the increasingly challenging roles required for the Artemis Program. The assignment gives privileged access to some strategic training sessions restricted to the crewmembers.
As part of their training, both Jeremy and Jenni also play a key role in defining and validating astronaut training and processes for future lunar missions, putting their expertise in service not only of this flight, but also of the Artemis program as a whole.
CSA astronaut Jenni Gibbons is part of the extended closeout crew for the launch. (Credit: NASA/Jim Ross)
Preparing Orion for her crewmates
Just before launch, a closeout crew will be responsible for securing the Artemis II astronauts in Orion and closing its hatches. Jenni is part of the extended closeout team.
About 40 hours prior to launch and again 16 hours before, her job as an Astronaut Support Person will be to prepare the Orion spacecraft, named Integrity by the crew. She will work inside Integrity to make sure everything is exactly as expected – from the seats to the switches. She will also perform voice checks from inside the capsule to make sure communications loops are clear and legible before the crew ingress. A few hours after her, her colleague and fellow backup crewmember Andre Douglas will help the crew strap into the capsule and assist in closing the hatches with the rest of the closeout crew.
During the Artemis II launch itself, Jenni will be acting as Jeremy's immediate family escort. She will be with them for key moments leading up to and including liftoff, and will be a primary point of support for them both in nominal and off-nominal scenarios
CSA astronaut Jenni Gibbons explains her job as lunar capcom for the Artemis II mission. (Credit: CSA, NASA)
A familiar voice in Mission Control
Jenni will be playing a key role in supporting her fellow astronauts from the ground throughout the mission. As the first person from an international partner country to be certified as an Artemis capcom – the critical voice link between the teams on the ground and the astronauts in space – she will be on console at NASA's Mission Control Center for several shifts during the mission, including the lunar flyby.
Training closely with the crew for over two years aids in understanding the kind of information she needs to communicate with them from Mission Control. Jenni has said that being a capcom also prepares you to be a more effective crewmember, because you have a window into the processes in Mission Control which support spaceflight.
"Jenni is someone who's extraordinarily operationally competent, but also one of the kindest people you will ever meet. It's great to have her backing us up on this mission. And I'm excited about all the amazing things that Jenni is going to do in the future for Canada."
– Jeremy Hansen, CSA astronaut