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Canadians in Space

© David Newman

Canada has made many contributions to the aeronautical and space industry, most notably with the Canadarm and Canadarm2 and its own space assocation: the Canadian Space Agency-Agence Spaciale Canadienne whose astronauts have worked on NASA missions and on the International Space Station.

Space study in Canada began in 1983 when the United States invited a Canadian aboard a space shuttle. That astronaut was Marc Garneau, chosen from the six astronauts Canada had at the time: Garneau himself, Steve MacLean, Ken Money, Robert Thirsk, Bjarni Tryggvason, and Roberta Bondar. In 1992, four more astronauts were recruited, Chris Hadfield, Mike McKay, Julie Payette, and Dave Williams.

This week we celebrate the eight Canadian astronauts who have left the earth.

Marc Garneau (1984, 1996, 2000) was born in Québec, PQ, in February of 1949. After studying in both Québec and the United Kingdom as a youth he began to study physical engineering at the Royal Military Collège. In 1973 he got a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at London's Imperial College of Science and Technology. Between 1974 and 1976, Garneau served an engineering post on HMCS Algonquin. Garneau has held various jobs within the military. In 1984 Garneau left the army temporarily to become the first Canadian to go into space. He then returned to the military where he became captain in 1986. In 1989 he was named Deputy Director of the Canadian Astronaut Program.

Garneau has participated in two other space travels. He is now Executive Vice-President of the CSA.

Roberta Bondar was born in Sault-Sainte-Marie, ON, in 1945. When she was chosen to be an astronaut she became the first Canadian female astronaut and the 18th in the world. She got a degree in experimental pathology at Western, a doctorate of neurobiology at the University of Toronto, and became a doctor of Medicine at McMaster University. She was amongst the first to be chosen to become astronauts by the Canadian Space Agency, in 1983. In 1990, NASA chose her to be payload specialist on a flight of Discovery, in charge of the International Microgravity Laboratory mission. In 1992 she flew on Discovery to become the first Canadian woman in space. She quit the space program soon after her mission was completed.

Steve MacLean was born in Ottawa, December 14, 1954. He got his doctorate in physics in 1983 at the University of York, in North York, ON. He was one of the six to be selected to become astronauts in December of 1983. He flew his mission in fall of 1992 as program manager of the OSVS which would help control the Canadarm. He became Acting Director General of the Canadian Astronaut Office in 1994, a post he held until 1996. That year he was selected to do training in NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, USA.