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Nine Canadians have flown into space: eight trained astronauts and one civilian. Canadians have flown on 13 manned NASA missions and two Russian Soyuz missions.
Here's a look at what each accomplished in space, and where they are today.
Marc Garneau
Years in space: 1984, 1996, 2000
Hometown: Quebec City
Canada's first astronaut, Garneau was a member of the 1984 Challenger crew and returned to orbit in 1996 and 2000 on Endeavour, becoming the only Canadian to make three journeys to space. In total, he logged 677 hours in space. Garneau was president of the Canadian Space Agency from 2001 to 2005. In 2006, he ran unsuccessfully for federal office as a Liberal candidate in the rural Quebec riding of Vaudreuil-Soulanges, but won in the downtown Montreal riding of Westmount-Ville-Marie in 2008. He is currently the Liberals' science, industry and technology critic.
- Garneau marks 25 years of Canadians in space
- Q&A: Garneau's next mission: bring science to politics
- CBC Archives: Astronaut Marc Garneau soars into history (March 14, 1984)
- CBC Archives: Live from space (Oct. 9, 1984)
- CBC Archives: Happily back in the Heavens (May 20, 1996)
- CBC Archives: The final mission (Dec. 3, 2000)
Roberta Bondar
Year in space: 1992
Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
Neurologist Bondar became Canada's first woman in space when she flew on the shuttle Discovery to the International Space Station on Jan. 22, 1992. Bondar performed research into the effects of microgravity, lower body pressure and various pathological states on blood flow to the brain. She retired from the Canadian Space Agency later that year to continue her research while pursuing other ventures, including public speaking and photography.
- Q&A: Roberta Bondar
- CBC Archives: Roberta Bondar is out of this world (Jan. 22, 1992)
Steve MacLean
Years in space: 1992, 2006
Hometown: Ottawa
Laser physicist MacLean first flew aboard space shuttle Columbia to the International Space Station as a payload specialist in 1992, when he performed a set of experiments designed, among other goals, to test a system to help guide the Canadarm and Canadarm 2. MacLean was set to go into orbit again in 2003 until the shuttle fleet was grounded after Columbia broke into pieces on Feb. 1 of that year, killing all seven astronauts aboard. He returned to space in 2006 aboard Atlantis as a member of the first space-station assembly mission since the Columbia disaster.
MacLean was appointed president of the Canadian Space Agency in September 2008.
- Atlantis soars into orbit with Canadian Steve MacLean on board
- Canadian spacewalker: “Boy, am I ever high”
- Steve MacLean named head of space agency
Chris Hadfield
Years in space: 1995, 2001
Hometown: Born in Sarnia, Ont., raised in Milton, Ont.
Veteran test pilot Hadfield made his first shuttle flight aboard Atlantis and returned again on April 20, 2001, to mark history by becoming Canada's first astronaut to walk in space. His second spacewalk of that mission took seven hours and 40 minutes to make repairs to the space station. He also became the first Canadian to operate the Canadarm 2 in space. Hadfield later told CBC News that conducting a spacewalk was a gruelling physical ordeal.
“If you could picture it, you first put on a suit of armour and then go jump in a lake and then perform the task. That's what it is like. You have to be strong and fit,” he said.
Hadfield served as NASA's chief of International Space Station operations from 2006 to 2008. He trained as a back-up for Robert Thirsk for his long-duration stay aboard the station. Hadfield currently works in the ISS operations branch, developing emergency procedures for the station.
- Astronauts explore space science in B.C. lake
- CBC Archives: A Canadian reaches the arm (Nov. 9, 1995)
Robert Thirsk
Years in space: 1996, 2009
Hometown: New Westminster, B.C.
Thirsk flew as a payload specialist aboard space shuttle Columbia's Life and Microgravity Spacelab mission. During the 17-day flight, he and six crewmates performed 43 experiments, some devoted to the study of changes in plants, animals and humans under space-flight conditions. Thirsk also trained as backup crewmember for a Russian Soyuz mission in 2005, the first Canadian astronaut to do so.
Thirsk became the first Canadian to complete a long-term stay in space when he lived aboard the International Space Station for six months in 2009. During his stay, Thirsk welcomed two other Canadians to the station, fellow astronaut Julie Payette and space tourist Guy Laliberté. The meeting of Thirsk and Payette on the ISS in July was the first time two Canadians met in space.
Thirsk has also used the station's robotic arm, Canadarm2, to assist in the station's construction. In September, he assisted in the arm's capture of a Japanese cargo vessel, the first-ever capture of a free-flying spacecraft. He called “the first Canadian cosmic catch” the most exciting moment of his mission. Thirsk was also the first Canadian to launch and land aboard a Russian vessel.
- Astronaut Thirsk lauds space investment
- Astronaut Thirsk back on Earth
- Thirsk's Canadian experiments in space
Bjarni Tryggvason
Year in space: 1997
Hometown: Born in Reykjavik, Iceland, grew up in Richmond, B.C.
Tryggvason, a native of Iceland who grew up in British Columbia, flew as a payload specialist on Aug. 7, 1997, aboard the space shuttle Discovery on its mission to the International Space Station. On the mission, he performed fluid-science experiments to test how spacecraft vibrations affected other station experiments. He retired from the Canadian Space Agency in June 2008 and is now a visiting professor at the University of Western Ontario in London. He has written more than 50 published papers and holds three patents.
- Canadian astronaut Bjarni Tryggvason to retire
Dave Williams
Years in space: 1998, 2007
Hometown: Born in Saskatoon, grew up in Montreal.
Dafydd (Dave) Williams first flew on the space shuttle on April 17, 1998, where he participated in Neurolab, a 16-day mission aboard Columbia. The mission was dedicated to the advancement of neuroscience research, directing its attention to the effects of weightlessness on the nervous system.
As a member of Endeavour's crew in 2007, Williams made three spacewalks during a 12-day mission, the most by a Canadian. During that time, spent nearly 18 hours outside in space assembling the International Space Station, breaking the previous Canadian mark by colleague Chris Hadfield.
Williams retired from the CSA in 2008 and became director of the McMaster Centre for Medical Robotics at the St. Joseph's Healthcare facility in Hamilton, Ont.
- Ex-astronaut lands as McMaster medical robotics director
- Canuck astronaut Williams recounts 'spectacular beauty'
Julie Payette
Years in space: 1999, 2009
Hometown: Montreal.
Canada's second woman in space flew on Discovery from May 27 to June 6, 1999, and orbited Earth 153 times over 10 days while aboard the shuttle and the International Space Station. Payette operated the robotic Canadarm while in orbit.
She worked as a capsule communicator at the Mission Control Center in Houston, helping co-ordinate communications between ground control and the astronauts in flight.
In July 2009, she became the first Canadian woman to return to space when she served as the flight engineer on the crew of the shuttle Endeavour during a mission to the space station.
While there, Payette visited with fellow Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk, who was six weeks into his six-month stay aboard the orbiting space laboratory.
In an interview with The Canadian Press in June 2010, Payette said she was not among the astronauts Canadian Space Agency is considering for future flights. “The Canadian Space Agency doesn't have any plans for me,” she said.
- Canadians meet at space station
- Payette returns to sounds and smell of space
- Payette gets warm homecoming after cold of space
- Payette's space-travel career may be over
- CBC Archives: Julie Payette's historic voyage to space (May 27, 1999)
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