'So many opportunities': Canadian astronaut on a mission to inspire others

Jenni Gibbons was inspired to become an astronaut at a young age by Canada’s early space explorers, including Roberta Bondar. Now, the Artemis II backup crew member is hoping she can motivate the next generation to look to the stars.

The Albertan has been touring B.C. this week to share her story with aspiring astronauts, including at Science World and the HR MacMillan Space Centre in Vancouver. She wants young people to know that there are many ways to get involved in space.

“The Canadian Space Agency and Canada in general has so many opportunities in the space industry and space economy, and all of those opportunities are entirely aligned with creatively solving problems with science to improve people’s lives,” Gibbons told CTV News.

An engineer by trade, Gibbons began training as an astronaut in 2017, and last November was assigned the backup for fellow Canadian Jeremy Hansen on the Artemis II mission.

Set to launch sometime next year, the Artemis II crew will fly around the moon in the first manned mission to leave low Earth orbit since the Apollo program in the ‘70s.

“Depending on when we launch, the crew could be going further away from the Earth than any human has gone before; on re-entry relatively they’re going to be going faster than anyone’s gone before,” Gibbons said.

She’s been training alongside the prime crew and will go into space in the event Hansen cannot, and is also preparing to support the crew from the ground while they’re in flight.

“I really can’t believe that I have the opportunity to do this training and be part of this mission for Canada,” she said. “It’s so much newness in preparing to go to the surface of the moon.”

Her advice to aspiring space explorers is to find out what their passion is within STEM, set goals and have the grit and determination to follow through.

Gibbons told CTV News audiences are just as excited as she is about the Artemis II, which indicates a promising future.

“It’s a really wonderful feeling to see how much people in Canada care about space, how much they care about science and technology, engineering and again all this opportunity that’s in front of them; it’s very special.”

She adds that technologies used in space exploration have applications on earth too, like medical devices, food preservation methods, water purification and weather tracking. “Our investment in the space economy and what we do in space have direct positive impacts on peoples lives, especially in a place like Canada.”

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Isabella Zavarise