April 8, 2026 | Campus
'Over the moon': U of T celebrates historic Artemis II mission
Photo credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
One small room at the University of Toronto, one giant moment for Canada.
Stargazers huddled around a screen at the Gerstein Science Information Centre on April 1 to count down as the Artemis II mission took off for the moon – carrying the first Canadian to venture beyond low Earth orbit.
The watch party – organized by Let's Talk Science, the STEAM Sisters, Melon D'Oh La La and U of T Libraries – drew a full house and widespread news coverage. The Toronto Star reported that “ooh’s” and “ah’s” broke out at rocket separation before applause as NASA confirmed all four astronauts had successfully reached space. Among them was mission specialist Jeremy Hansen – the first Canadian, and first non-American, to travel beyond low Earth orbit. Fellow Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jenni Sidey-Gibbons served as CAPCOM, the voice connecting the crew to Mission Control on Earth.
Sandhya Mylabathula (BSc 2011, PhD 2023) and Swapna Mylabathula (BSc 2011, PhD 2022), the twin science communicators behind the STEAM Sisters, organized the event to bring the U of T community together around the historic mission.
“Personally, I want to be an astronaut one day, so this is very exciting. I am over the moon with excitement,” Sandhya, a PhD graduate and course instructor in the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education, told CP24.
The historic mission had astronauts breaking the record for the furthest distance travelling from Earth at 406,771 km with a lunar flyby on April 6. Artemis II is set to splash down off the coast of San Diego, Calif., on April 10th.
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