{"id":571801,"date":"2026-03-31T00:30:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T00:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/571801\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T00:30:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T00:30:14","slug":"edmonton-space-enthusiast-at-historic-artemis-ii-launch-truly-incredible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/571801\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmonton space enthusiast at historic Artemis II launch: \u2018Truly incredible\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

In just a couple days the Artemis II<\/a> mission will blast off, sending astronauts around the Moon<\/a> for the first time in more than five decades.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

An Edmonton space blogger is among the hundreds of media at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to cover the historic event.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could definitely feel the excitement as press from literally around the world \u2014 they\u2019re now setting up \u2014 and everyone\u2019s here, everyone\u2019s ready,\u201d Zachary Aubert<\/a> said.<\/p>\n

Aubert started his platform, The Launch Pad, on YouTube<\/a> and other social media pages<\/a> in 2021.<\/p>\n

His first guest was U.S. billionaire entrepreneur, pilot and commercial astronaut Jared Isaacman<\/a>, who became the administrator of NASA this past December.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1:41
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEdmonton man shoots for the stars and lands famous guest on YouTube channel\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Since starting The Launch Pad, he\u2019s covered many big moments in space exploration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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He now has more than 727,000 subscribers on YouTube and 38,000 followers on Facebook.<\/p>\n

Aubert says being in Florida for this launch is exhilarating.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tZachary Aubert at The Kennedy Space Center in Florida.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy \/ The Launch Pad\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s about 800 press from around the world that have been invited,\u201d Aubert explained.<\/p>\n

Last month, NASA gave him a up-close tour of the rocket inside the vehicle assembly building at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center \u2014 a place Aubert said many enthusiasts call \u201cThe Cathedral of American Spaceflight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aubert also watched up close as the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft was moved outside and rolled several kilometres to its launch pad.<\/p>\n

Seeing it finally blast off into space is a dream come true.<\/p>\n

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\u201cTo get to be three miles away from the vehicle when it launches, having been able to be out at the pad with my team setting up cameras and being under the vehicle 50 feet during rollout.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Get<\/p>\n

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Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you’ll never miss the day’s top stories.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s surreal to be this close.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy \/ The Launch Pad\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

NASA has set April 1 as the earliest expected launch date for Artemis II<\/a> \u2014 the first manned mission to travel around the moon in 53 years.<\/p>\n

That crew includes\u00a0Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, 50, of London, Ont. as a mission specialist \u2014 the first non-American to travel beyond low Earth orbit.<\/p>\n

He will be joined by veteran American NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tArtemis II backup crewmembers NASA astronaut Andre Douglas, left to right, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jenni Gibbons pose for a group photo with prime crewmembers NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen, and NASA astronaut Christina Koch, in front of NASA\u2019s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft, secured to the mobile launcher, as it makes the 4.2 mile journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., in a Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, handout photo.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tTHE CANADIAN PRESS\/Handout – NASA, Joel Kowsky (Mandatory Credit)\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The 32-story space launch system rocket is poised to blast off Wednesday evening \u2014 NASA has the first six days of April to launch Artemis II before standing down until the end of the month.<\/p>\n

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After a day in orbit around Earth, their Orion capsule will propel them to the moon and back. There are no stops \u2014 just a quick U-turn around the moon.<\/p>\n

The nearly 10-day flight will end with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n

Calgary\u2019s Jenni Gibbons is Hansen\u2019s backup.<\/p>\n

She was selected by the Canadian Space Agency in 2017 at the age of 28 \u2014 just the third woman to join the ranks of Canadian astronaut recruits \u2014 and soon relocated to Houston, where NASA is based.<\/p>\n

As an astronaut understudy, she\u2019s gone through years of the same training as those on the rocket \u2014 in the unlikely event that Hansen cannot fly.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore on Science
\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n

Ahead of the launch, she must stay prepared and go into quarantine with the other astronauts.\u00a0In the days and hours before takeoff, Gibbons will also enter the capsule to ensure it\u2019s ready to take the astronauts up.<\/p>\n

As the rocket circles the moon, Gibbons will serve as a voice link from Earth to space \u2014 part of the team coaching Hansen and the other astronauts on key mission objectives.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t5:12
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCalgary astronaut to train for Artemis II mission to the moon\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

While four nations have successfully landed devices on the Moon (USSR, United States, India, China), only the the U.S. has had men walk on the surface.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s a big thing. No other country has sent an astronaut to the moon, so we\u2019ll be the first country other than the U.S. to do that,\u201d said Frank Florian with the Telus World of Science Edmonton.<\/p>\n

To share in the excitement, the Telus World of Science is hosting a watch party<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t6:17
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEdmonton to host Artemis II launch watch party\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s Artemis II mission should have soared in February, but was grounded by hydrogen fuel leaks.<\/p>\n

The leaks were fixed, but then a helium pressurization line became clogged, forcing a return to the hangar late last month. The rocket returned to the pad 1 1\/2 weeks ago, and its U.S.-Canadian crew arrived at the launch site last week.<\/p>\n

Unlike Apollo, which sent only men to the moon from 1968 through 1972, Artemis\u2019 debut crew includes a woman, person of color and a non-U.S. citizen (Hansen.)<\/p>\n

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For Aubert, when that moment comes for takeoff, he\u2019s just going to try to take it all in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to feel the heat of those SRBs (solid rocket boosters), and we\u2019re going to feel that vibration of a moon rocket stretching past Earth\u2019s orbit,\u201d Aubert said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be truly incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2:09
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFinal preparations underway for Artemis II moon mission\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

With files from Karen Bartko, Global News, Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press, and Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In just a couple days the Artemis II mission will blast off, sending astronauts around the Moon for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[58777,49,48,105501,6294,307,66,219834,519,219835],"class_list":{"0":"post-571801","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-artemis-ii","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-jeremy-hansen","12":"tag-moon","13":"tag-nasa","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-the-launch-pad","16":"tag-trending","17":"tag-zachary-aubert"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}