Canadians gather to toast return of final NASA shuttle flight

LONGUEUIL, Que. – As the sun rose over the Canadian Space Agency south of Montreal, a handful of officials watched on a giant screen as the shuttle Atlantis touched down for a final time at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Pierre Jean, Canada’s program manager for the International Space Station, was feeling melancholy.

“Sad on one part and tempering that sadness with the fact that there is future for the space station which is currently in orbit and planned to be in operation until 2030,” he said in an interview.

“You temper the sadness of seeing the life of one amazing vehicle come to the end, knowing that there’s something in the future.”

Jean points out that the Canadian space program has always relied on other partners for launch capabilities to space.

“We don’t have a launcher program and naturally over the years we’ve worked with the Americans, we’ve been part of many shuttle missions (and) the shuttle was the backbone of transporting all the hardware and systems to the space station.”

A Russian Soyuz will carry Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield to the orbiting space lab in 2012 and all flights to the space station during the next few years will be through the Soyuz.

Jean notes that the Japanese, the Europeans and Americans all have resupply vehicles that have flown or will fly to the space station in the future.

“So the future looks good,” he said..

The 30-year shuttle program is credited with ushering in numerous innovations.

They include a miniaturized heart pump, metal alloys that sparked a new line of golf clubs, better baby formula and a golden age of Canadian robotics.

The final flight of Atlantis carried one of three remaining Canadarm robots, which will eventually end up in a U.S. museum.

But the original robotic arm, which was taken into space in 1981, was recently retired with the shuttle Endeavour and will be returned to Canada later this year.

Eight Canadian astronauts have flown 14 times on the U.S. fleet of space shuttles.

Veteran Marc Garneau, the first Canadian to go into space and who flew on the shuttle Challenger in October 1984, says the return of Atlantis marked the end of an era “where we did incredible things.”

But the astronaut-turned-politician says the all-purpose space vehicle was still too dangerous even if it made 135 flights.

“Two tragedies out of 135 flights is too many,” he said in a recent interview with The Canadian Press.

During 30 years of shuttle flights, 14 astronauts died in two accidents. Challenger erupted into a fireball during its launch on Jan. 28, 1986. And Columbia broke apart on Feb. 1, 2003, as it returned to Earth.

Garneau, now 62, took two other flights on American shuttles both times on Endeavour in 1996 and in 2000.

“My life is intimately connected to this experience and I think the pride will remain because I was part of this program,” he said.

Garneau, the former head of the Canadian Space Agency, says he would love to see an all-Canadian robotic mission to Mars.

“I’m confident if Canada gives itself the challenge of a Canadian robotic mission to Mars aside from the launch vehicle we would be able to do the rest.”

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today