  The ESA Gaia space astrometry mission will perform an all-sky survey of
stellar objects complete in the nominal magnitude range G = [6.0 - 20.0]. The
stars with G lower than 6.0, i.e. those visible to the unaided human eye, would
thus not be observed by Gaia. We present an algorithm configuration for the
Gaia on-board autonomous object observation system that makes it possible to
observe very bright stars with G = [2.0-6.0). Its performance has been tested
during the in-orbit commissioning phase achieving an observation completeness
of ~94% at G = 3 - 5.7 and ~75% at G = 2 - 3. Furthermore, two targeted
observation techniques for data acquisition of stars brighter than G = 2.0 were
tested. The capabilities of these two techniques and the results of the
in-flight tests are presented. Although the astrometric performance for stars
with G lower than 6.0 has yet to be established, it is clear that several
science cases will benefit from the results of the work presented here.
