Final Frontier

It was time for an autumn header for the blog. I took this one last fall at the Champlain Lookout out in Gatineau Park.

This is the space suit used by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield in his last voyage into the final frontier. He was on two shuttle missions, and later spent time on the International Space Station. These are the kind of suits used on the Soyuz during journeys to and from the ISS.

And this is a model of the station itself. The accompanying display has a Canadian touch, noting the comparative size of the station to five NHL hockey rinks.

NASA, the Russians, the Canadian Space Agency, the European Space Agency, and Japan's space agency send astronauts up, and collaborate in work and research. These days, you're up there for months. Everyone is a specialist in multiple areas, and you don't want to be stuck up there with someone who's a jerk.

The ISS is a maze of wires, consoles, and modules in which there is no up or down. 

And everything is a challenge, with problems posed that require solutions. 

This is a mock-up of an astronaut's sleeping quarters on the ISS. You sleep in the sleeping bag on the wall, and all items in the space are secured or strapped down.

Hair cuts and shaves, brushing your teeth, and washing your hair present their own challenges when you are living in a zero gravity environment.

A video display screen caught my eye, and I took several photographs.

The Cupola is one of the features of the ISS that lends itself to extraordinary photography. Astronauts spend some downtime in it, looking back at the Earth.

This includes a view of the Canadian east coast. More tomorrow.

Canadarm

We start today with a Canadian innovation in space- the STEM antenna, which is rolled up inside a satellite during launch, and rolls back out for deployment in orbit. It was a product of the government's National Research Council ahead of the launch of the first Alouette satellite. The concept has continued to be used since.

Another Canadian innovation has been the Canadarm, a large robotic arm that went on the space shuttles, as well as being present as part of the International Space Station. One of the Canadarms has its home here.

Its current incarnation, the Canadarm2 is part of a combined set of three tools designed by the Canadian Space Agency for use in space- the others being the Mobile Base System, which provides the base and which moves along the space station, and Dextre, a versatile robot for precise work that can be mounted to the end of the Canadarm or on its own at key grapple points on the station.

Bill Helin, an artist of indigenous roots, designed this for the Canadian Space Agency, and it pays respects to the First Nations peoples of the country and the common belief in the Thunderbird. A blanket of the full design is beside a mission patch that was worn by Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk.

Canadians have been to space on multiple occasions, and continue to do so.

Here are Canadian astronaut utility flight suits.

And here is a model of the Soyuz spacecraft, which is the primary vehicle to actually get to the ISS. We'll pick up here tomorrow.

 

Airship

 Here we have another helicopter, the Piasecki HUP, which saw military and civilian use.

I moved off, photographing back towards the fighters and the museum's far corner.

And then towards the early passenger planes.

I was heading to the section focusing on space. En route, I stopped at this display case with a model of an airship. At one point it was thought these would be what would replace trans-oceanic passenger ships. Airplanes developing greater range and being able to carry more passengers put an end to that.

It was a Canadian company that developed the landing gear for the lunar module for the Apollo 11 mission.

And Canadians designed and built the first Canadian satellite put into orbit- the Alouette.

Flight

 The Bell HTL is a military variant of the civilian Bell 47- some of which are still in use around the world today.

Two Sikorsky helicopters are side by side.

The Sikorsky H045 is an earlier military helicopter.

The Sikorsky Sea King came later, also used by the military.

Here they are again, side by side- both workhorses.

Turning, I took this shot.

VTOL

 Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) is a concept in military thinking going back to the concern of airfields being bombed, with the idea of lifting off with minimal need of airstrips. The aircraft are designed to lift off from where they stand and take off. The British Harrier is a good example of this idea. Here we have the Canadair CL-84, a Canadian design dating to the 1950s.

Helicopters of course are another take on that very same concept, and this one is a Boeing Vertol, otherwise known as the Labrador. The Canadian military bought these for search and rescue purposes, and they are a tough workhorse of a helicopter, and big.

Helicopters have proven to be a versatile aircraft, both military and civilian.

Here beside the Labrador is a Bell helicopter.