@europeanspaceagency

Do you know what a Jill is❓ 🐑 @shaunthesheep has been assigned a seat on the Artemis I mission to the Moon in this weekly series we follow the intrepid wooly astronaut during his training sessions. Astronauts on space missions have to be ‘Jacks-of-all-trades’ (or Jills). Shaun the Sheep is no exception and, like any space traveller, he was trained with the astronauts’ toolbox of knowledge for the first Artemis mission. This included life and physical sciences in ‘weightless’ conditions, engineering and medical skills, as well as orbital mechanics and survival training. To learn how to monitor all the experiments and keep a space lab running, astronauts from around the world receive hands-on (or hoofs-on) training in mockups at the European Astronaut Centre – the home-base for European astronauts in Cologne, Germany. The centre has a variety of training tools and facilities to support crew training. Astronauts can rehearse normal operations, learn to recover from malfunctions and practice to replace faulty equipment on board. Shaun the Sheep was trained in a full-size mock-up of the Columbus laboratory. Columbus is Europe’s largest contribution to the @iss. Since 2008, this multifunctional module has been producing a wealth of scientific data across a range of disciplines. Our training team in Cologne put Shaun through his paces, getting him to know every corner of Europe’s Columbus lab as a good basis for the Artemis I mission. Follow Shaun's training for Artemis I and preparations for the first European Service Module flight to the Moon on blogs.esa.int/orion/ 📸 ESA/Aardman - @sarahjanemuirheadphotography #ShaunTheSheep #ForwardToTheMoon, #ExploreFarther #Artemis #AstronautTraining