The Canadian Astronaut Corps is a unit of the

Canadian Space Agency The Canadian Space Agency (CSA; ) is the national space agency of Canada, established in 1990 by the ''Canadian Space Agency Act''. The President of the Canadian Space Agency, president is Lisa Campbell (civil servant), Lisa Campbell, who took ...

(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 List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

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 a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

(ISS).

History

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

National Research Council of Canada The National Research Council Canada (NRC; ) is the primary national agency of the Government of Canada dedicated to science and technology research and development. It is the largest federal research and development organization in Canada. Th ...

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

Marc Garneau Joseph Jean-Pierre Marc Garneau (; February 23, 1949 – June 4, 2025) was a Canadian Armed Forces officer, astronaut, and politician. Garneau served as a naval officer before being selected as an astronaut as part of the 1983 NRC Group. He be ...

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 "Bob" Brent Thirsk, (born August 17, 1953) is a Canadian retired 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 and 29&nbs ...

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 Decemder 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, musician, and writer. As the first Canadian to perform extravehicular activity in outer space, he has flown two Space Shuttle missions and ...

, 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 the English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was first released on 11 July 1969 by Philips and Mercury Records as a 7-inch single, then as the opening track of his second studio album, ''David Bowie''. Produce ...

". 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 List of governors general of Canada, 29th since Canadian Confederation. Payette holds ...

would go on to serve as the

governor general of Canada The governor general of Canada () is the federal representative of the . The monarch of Canada is also sovereign and head of state of 14 other Commonwealth realms and resides in the United Kingdom. The monarch, on the Advice (constitutional la ...

, and Garneau would become

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

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 ''Columbia' ...

. There are four active astronauts in the Corps (Jeremy Hansen, David Saint-Jacques, Joshua Kutryk and Jennifer Sidey-Gibbons) and ten former astronauts, eight of whom have gone into space. Of the nine current and former Canadian astronauts who have gone into space, two 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 corps has four active astronauts, three men and one woman. Only one has previously flown to space and two have assignments to future missions. Missions in ''italics'' are scheduled and subject to change.

Former astronauts

There are ten former CSA astronauts.

Selection groups

* 1983 NRC Group: Roberta Bondar,

, 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 nearly 12-day mission to study cha ...

(all transferred to CSA in 1989) * 1992 CSA Group:

Dafydd Williams Dafydd "David" Rhys Williams (born May 16, 1954) is a Canadian physician, public speaker, author and retired CSA astronaut. Williams was a mission specialist on two Space Shuttle missions. His first spaceflight, STS-90 in 1998, was a 16-day mi ...

and Michael McKay * 2009 CSA Group: Jeremy Hansen and David Saint-Jacques * 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 List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...