Tuesday, July 28, 2026

Into The Final Frontier

 Each summer, the government puts on a series of display panels on Plaza Bridge near the Government Conference Centre. This year, the theme is Canada In Space. Canadians started working with NASA in the 70s, particularly on the development of the Canadarm. 


In 1983, the first Canadian astronauts were selected.


The first Canadian in space was Marc Garneau, who flew three shuttle missions in 1984, 1996, and 2000. He later went into politics, and recently passed away.


Jeremy Hansen is a much more recent example of a Canadian in space, having had been part of the Artemis II team going to the Moon.


Roberta Bondar was the first Canadian woman in space, and the first neurologist.


Chris Hadfield went to space three times, including a stint as a station commander for the International Space Station.


Robert Thirsk went up with Columbia in 1996, and in 2009 spent a half year aboard the ISS.


Dave Williams went to space twice aboard Columbia.


Canadarm marked the beginning of the collaboration between the Canadian Space Agency and NASA. 


Here we have the full crew of the recent Artemis II mission.


Julie Payette was the first Canadian astronaut to board the ISS during her trip aboard Discovery, and later returned to space on Endeavour.


Bjarni Tryggvason went to space aboard Discovery.

28 comments:

  1. ...call me weird, but space has never interested me!

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  2. You are very lucky to live where your government cares deeply about its citizens and most importantly protecting and teaching of your history, good or bad.

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    1. It's a mature country that accepts its past in its entirety.

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  3. Interesting history of space exploration.

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  4. That is a nice series of panels, William.

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  5. My trans grandson is studying astrophysicis at Queens. It is very exciting.

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    1. The only science course I took in university was astronomy- just out of interest.

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  6. Good to see them being honored ~ Proud of them ~ Hugs ^_^

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  7. Nice to see them being recognized for their work.

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  8. I hadn't realized we had so many astronauts go out in space.

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  9. Imagine going to the moon! Okay I'd probably be barfing the entire time, but still, what an experience!

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  10. Lovely tribute to the spacemen!

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  11. Nice tribute to the astronauts.

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