The Canadian Astronaut Corps is a unit of the

Canadian Space Agency The Canadian Space Agency (CSA; french: Agence spatiale canadienne, ASC) is the national space agency of Canada, established in 1990 by the ''Canadian Space Agency Act''. The president is Lisa Campbell, who took the position on September 3, 202 ...

(CSA) that selects, trains, and provides

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

s as crew members for U.S. and Russian space missions. The corps has four active members, able to serve on the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ( ...

(ISS).

History

The original 6 astronauts selected in 1983 were under the auspices of the

National Research Council of Canada The National Research Council Canada (NRC; french: Conseil national de recherches Canada) is the primary national agency of the Government of Canada dedicated to science and technology research & development. It is the largest federal research ...

. They were transferred to the Canadian Space Agency when it was established in 1989. Since 1984, when

Marc Garneau Joseph Jean-Pierre Marc Garneau (born February 23, 1949) is a Canadian politician, retired Royal Canadian Navy officer and former astronaut who served as a Cabinet minister from 2015 to 2021. A member of the Liberal Party, Garneau was the mini ...

became the first Canadian in space, nine CSA astronauts have flown on US NASA Space Shuttles and on Russian Soyuz rockets in 15 missions. In May 2009,

Robert Thirsk Robert Brent "Bob" Thirsk, (born August 17, 1953) is a Canadian engineer and physician, and a former Canadian Space Agency astronaut. He holds the Canadian record for the most time spent in space (204 days 18 hours). He became an officer of t ...

flew to the International Space Station (ISS) for a six-month stay, thus becoming the first Canadian to stay aboard the ISS for an extended period. On December 1, 2009, after spending 188 days in space, Robert Thirsk returned to Earth aboard a Soyuz spacecraft. Canadian astronaut

Chris Hadfield Chris Austin Hadfield (born August 29, 1959) is a Canadian retired astronaut, engineer, fighter pilot, and musician. The first Canadian to perform extravehicular activity in outer space, he has flown two Space Shuttle missions and also served ...

, the first Canadian Commander of the ISS, would go on to achieve worldwide fame in 2013 for releasing a music video he recorded on the International Space Station of his version of David Bowie's song "

Space Oddity "Space Oddity" is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was first released on 11 July 1969 by Philips Records as a 7-inch single, then as the opening track of his second studio album ''David Bowie''. After the commercial fai ...

". Astronaut

Julie Payette Julie Payette (; born October 20, 1963) is a Canadian engineer, scientist and former astronaut who served from 2017 to 2021 as Governor General of Canada, the 29th since Canadian Confederation. Payette holds engineering degrees from McGill ...

would go on to serve as the

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm, t ...

, and Garneau would become

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

Organization

The Astronauts Corps is one of seven main divisions within the CSA. In addition to its Astronaut Corps, one of the most prominent contributions of Canada to space exploration is the robotic arm on the US space shuttles, the

Canadarm Canadarm or Canadarm1 (officially Shuttle Remote Manipulator System or SRMS, also SSRMS) is a series of robotic arms that were used on the Space Shuttle orbiters to deploy, manoeuvre, and capture payloads. After the Space Shuttle ''Columbi ...

. There are four active astronauts in the Corps (Jeremy Hansen, David Saint-Jacques, Joshua Kutryk and Jennifer Sidey-Gibbons) and ten former astronauts who have gone into space. Of the 9 current and former Canadian astronauts who have gone into space, 2 are women: Julie Payette and Roberta Bondar.

Qualifications

The CSA generally recruits astronauts who have degrees as scientists, engineers and/or medical doctors. In addition to being Canadian citizens or residents, candidates must meet certain physical standards (including height, weight, hearing and visual acuity) as well as educational requirements.

Members

Active astronauts

The CSA has four active astronauts. David Saint-Jacques launched to the ISS on Soyuz MS-11 in December of 2018; the other three have yet to fly their first mission.

Former astronauts

There are ten former CSA astronauts.

Selection groups

* 1983 NRC Group -

Roberta Bondar Roberta Lynn Bondar (; born December 4, 1945) is a Canadian astronaut, neurologist and consultant. She is Canada's first female astronaut and the first neurologist in space. After more than a decade as head of an international space medicine r ...

, Steve MacLean, Ken Money,

, and

Bjarni Tryggvason Bjarni Valdimar Tryggvason (September 21, 1945 – April 5, 2022) was an Icelandic-born Canadian engineer and a NRC/ CSA astronaut. He served as a Payload Specialist on Space Shuttle mission STS-85 in 1997, a 12-day mission to study changes in ...

(all transferred to CSA in 1989) * 1992 CSA Group - Dave Williams,

and Michael McKay * 2009 CSA Group - Jeremy Hansen and

David Saint-Jacques David Saint-Jacques ( , ; born January 6, 1970) is a Canadian astronaut with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). He is also an astrophysicist, engineer, and a physician. In December 2018, he launched to the International Space Station, as Flight ...

* 2017 CSA Group - Joshua Kutryk and Jennifer Sidey

References

{{Reflist

External links

Canadian Astronaut Corps History
Space program of Canada Lists of astronauts

Astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...