|Back row, from left to right: Ken Money, , Steve MacLean and Bjarni Tryggvason. Front row: Robert Thirsk and Roberta Bondar.|
|Canada's First 8 Astronauts|
Canada's eight astronauts, posing for a photo at the John H. Chapman Space Centre in St. Hubert, Que., in 2003: Back row, left to right, Marc Garneau, Steve MacLean, Julie Payette, Dave Williams; front row, left to right, Roberta Bondar, Chris Hadfield, Robert Thirsk and Bjarni Tryggvason.
Following the success of the original Canadarm the next generation Canadarm2, or Space Station Remote Manipulator System as it's officially known, was developed as a permanent attachment for the new International Space Station. At 18 metres in length and weighing 1,800 kilos it is capable of handling payloads up to 116,000 kilos and is able to assist with docking the space shuttle itself. On April 19, 2001 Chris Hadfield was part of the crew on the shuttle Endeavour who delivered and installed Canadarm2 on the International Space Station and became the first Canadian to do a spacewalk.
On June 5, 2002 Canada's second contribution to the International Space Station the Mobile Base System is delivered by the shuttle Endeavor. A base platform for robotic arms to connect via 4 different power data grapple fixtures, it rests on top of the Mobile transporter rail car. The Mobile Base can glide along the main truss of the International Space Station and access any of 8 work-sites that feature power connections for the Base and its attachments.
On September 9, 2006 Steve MacLean makes his 2nd space flight and visits the Space Station for the first time on board the shuttle Atlantis to resume assembly of the Space Station following the space shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003. He is the first Canadian to operate the Canadarm2 and Mobile Base System and the 2nd to do a spacewalk.
On March 11, 2008 "Dextre" the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, a smaller two-armed robot that can attach to Canadarm2 or the Mobile Base System was installed. Designed to handle delicate assembly tasks with smaller arms and power tools this was another Canadian contribution to the Space Station demonstrating our expertise with space robotics. On May 7, 2009 Robert Thirsk launched from Kazakhstan aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft and arrived at the International Space Station where he would stay for a record breaking 6 months as part of the first permanent Space Station residents. Then on July 17, 2009 Julie Payette arrived at the Space Station on board the shuttle Endeavour and was welcomed aboard by Robert Thirsk making another first for Canadians as they met in space. With the retirement of the American space shuttle program in 2011 Chris Hadfield on December 19, 2012 returned to space for the 3rd time via a Russian Soyuz spacecraft and became the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station where he stayed for 6 months.
Meanwhile our original Radarsat-1 program launched on November 4, 1995 and updated with Radarsat-2 on December 14, 2007 was the first commercial Earth observation satellite in service and has been providing marine surveillance, ice monitoring, disaster management, resource management, environmental monitoring and mapping services for Canada and around the world ever since as part of the collaboration with the Canadian Space Agency and MacDonald, Dettwiler & Associates, the same folks who brought us the Canadarm technology.
|David Saint-Jacques and Jeremy Hansen|
|Joshua Kutryk and Jennifer Sidey|