By TOM HAYES
“OUT of this world.”
That is how Federation University student Celene Shimmen describes working with the International Institute of Astronautical Sciences, completing a portion of training in Canada recently.
The third year physiotherapy student always had an interest for space, and when the opportunity arose, she jumped toward it.
Originally from Colorado in the US, she moved to Gippsland specifically because of the course on offer at Churchill’s Federation University campus.
She has lived within Gippsland for four years now, currently completing placement in East Gippsland.
The 31-year-old is already a university graduate, doing so at Grand Canyon University in Arizona, US, studying a degree in Business Management.
But since she began studying at Federation University, Ms Shimmen has had multiple opportunities present themselves in the space world.
“I got involved with the Melbourne Space Program a couple years back because I’ve always been quite interested in anything related to space,” she said.
“I was very fortunate to be accepted into the program… I was put in different projects, one of them was a humanoid robot.
“This is sort of the reason for my physiotherapy switch. I was responsible for helping this robot walk for the first time, finding its centre of gravity, all that.
“I fell in love with rehabilitation, and I wanted to do that for people, not just robots, so for me that’s what sparked the interest.”
It has never been common of physiotherapists to be working within the space scene, as it is currently a new and evolving opportunity.
However, Ms Shimmen mentioned she was excited to be a part of the question that is: how can physiotherapists be involved in space?
Ms Shimmen is now into the second of three years of training with the International Institute of Astronautical Sciences after joining in 2023, which has seen her training ramp up.
“With my astronautical pursuits, what we learn as a physio is very crucial for longer space missions. Especially now that we’re going to be going to the moon… it’s very crucial that we can apply this in a new environment,” she said.
In August, Ms Shimmen flew to Ottawa, Canada for parabolical flight training, which prepares her for a potential suborbital mission.
“That was out of this world! It was absolutely amazing,” she said.
“When I went into microgravity for the first time it was out of this world. Going into that first parabolical trajectory, I was mentally prepared for my body to lift, but even as I was as prepared as I could be – my body was panicking.
“Once you kept going with the parabolas, you just adapt, and it was great.
“I got to learn how to build experiments and apply them in a microgravity environment, there was a lot to learn.
“I was responsible for three experiments where we were testing motor co-ordination in the lower limbs, seeing the speed and accuracy and how the elimination of gravity effects that.
“We also did balance testing that has been ethically approved so we will be publishing the results on that… and we also did an analysis on lunar gravity.”
Working with vehicle provider Virgin Galactic, and on some instances collaborating with NASA, Ms Shimmen has seen most of what it takes to prepare for a mission in space.
Within her testing, Ms Shimmen was tested against G-Forces, taking up to three times of her body weight in pressure.
She was able to train with three astronauts that have been training for five to 10 years and are set to launch on a mission in 2026, as well as see insight into future missions involving the moon.
“The next mission – the Artemis mission – is now trying to extend for eight days minimum, so that’s the most time we’d had even been on the moon. That’s a huge leap,” Ms Shimmen explained.
With another year to run after this year, Ms Shimmen said she still has plenty to learn.
A lot of her training will involve preparation and working under pressure. She also said she has many components still to learn as they wait their turn for their mission.
She has begun to become involved with space medicine, which also sparked her interest while studying physiotherapy in Gippsland.
