As the four Artemis II astronauts prepare for their historic flyby of the moon on Monday, Roberta Bondar, Canada’s first female astronaut, says this mission signals a leap in developments for future space travel.
Speaking with Global News, Bondar said the mission will push humans farther into deep space than they have travelled in decades, exposing the crew to conditions not experienced since the Apollo era.
The mission, known as Artemis II, will send four astronauts around the moon before returning to Earth on April 10, 2026.
The crew, made up of three Americans and one Canadian, will travel a total of more than 400,000 kilometres from Earth — farther than any human has travelled before — and then loop behind the moon and return home.
“People liken this to Apollo 8, but they were much closer,” she said. “This flyby will be about 4,000 miles out (from the moon), so they’ll be exposed to the background radiation of space and subjected to any solar wind or solar storms.”
Bondar said that distance will give the astronauts a rare vantage point, both scientifically and visually.
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“They are really out there in deep space, where we haven’t been before,” she said. “They are going to be looking at the dark moon differently and take pictures of the sun in ways we have not been able to see because human beings have not been there.”
The crew has recently passed a new milestone of being closer to the moon than to Earth in their deep space journey.
“The Earth is quite small and the moon is definitely getting bigger,” pilot Victor Glover said from space.
Beyond the visuals, the mission is also a test of how the human body responds to space flight over longer distances.
“They look pretty good actually,” Bondar said of the crew. “They do have these smartwatches on now that will be looking at aspects of their physiology, their sleep cycle and some of the stresses they will face.”
That data will help researchers better understand how to prepare astronauts for future missions deeper into space.
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Bondar also pointed to well-documented physical changes astronauts experience in orbit, including what is often referred to as “bird leg syndrome.”
“Your body gets rid of about two litres of blood volume through the kidneys,” she said. “In space, you don’t need as much, whereas on Earth you need about five litres because gravity pulls blood into your legs.”
She said Artemis II is part of a broader effort to refine how humans and technology work together in space.
“They’re trying to look at ways of making these kinds of missions not just smarter, but safer.”
“These early flights are all about trying to understand the technology,” she added. “These are really early days and about learning to make things smarter for the next flight, and the next flight.”
The Artemis II crew is expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean following its lunar flyby, marking a key milestone in NASA’s plan to return humans to the moon and eventually travel to Mars.
Live updates can be followed on NASA’s official website, including a stream of the Orion’s journey through space.
– With files from The Canadian Press
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So, what is “bird leg syndrome”?
Poor reporting when one has to ‘look up’ what the reported is taking about.
(“Puffy head bird legs” (or bird leg syndrome) is a temporary, physical condition experienced by astronauts in microgravity. Due to the lack of gravity pulling fluids down, bodily fluids shift upward, causing a puffy face, sinus congestion, and significantly thinner legs. It is a harmless adaptation that reverses upon returning to Earth.)
As a fellow “Soo girl”, I sat in elementary school and learned about her mission in real time. As a class, we were thrilled to be able to meet her at a book signing. It was the early 90s, and there weren’t a lot of prominent females to look up to, much less highly intelligent ones, much less Canadian ones, much LESS one from our own home town. What a golden opportunity to encourage and inspire the next generation. Instead, she never spoke directly to us, and never made eye contact. I will never forget just how rude and dismissive she was. I remember feeling horrible, like we actually weren’t supposed to be there and that she was MAD at us. I spent the next 10 or so years being surrounded by her image and name, and every time I’d see it, I wondered why we would want to immortalize such a horrible woman.
Maybe she was having a bad day, maybe she’s actually really lovely. But it shows how even the briefest of moments can have a lasting impact on someone. We should all do our best to make those impacts positive ones 💜
I’m just here to spread my love for my hometown SHEro Roberta Bondar! 💯🧠💪🙌❤️🔥
The article doesn’t explain anything about bird leg syndrome lol. “Two litres of blood volume”? Litres is a volume measurement, so what does this even mean?
I looked it up. Blood redistributes evenly across the body, shifting more to the upper body than when affected by gravity. Legs then look smaller than usual. It can result in nasal congestion and potentially affect vision. There’s a theoretical risk of blood clots forming closer to the brain.
The more dangerous side effects come when returning to gravity, as the will be ~20% less blood in the body. This results in lower blood pressure which leads to general weakness and dizziness when standing along with a weakened heart and atrophied leg muscles.