Peter Shokeir | [email protected]
Canada’s first astronaut to go to space will be speaking at the Forest Park Hotel on Oct. 12 as part of this year’s Jasper Dark Sky Festival.
Hosted by the Rotary Club of Jasper and Tourism Jasper, the intimate evening will be a unique opportunity to mingle with Marc Garneau and personally ask him questions.
“I’ll be talking about space, and I’ll be talking about not only the astronaut program here in Canada and the exciting things that we have been able to do over the years, but I’ll also be talking about why,” Garneau said.
Garneau noted how some of Canada’s accomplishments in space are perhaps less well known to the general public, such as how Canada was the third country to have a satellite in space, behind only the United States and the Soviet Union.
“We didn’t launch it, but we built this spacecraft called Alouette 1, and it was launched in 1962, and it made us the third country in space and [there’s been] a whole bunch of other firsts for Canada’s since that time.”
Garneau is a veteran of three space flights and has logged more than 677 hours in space.
He served as a naval officer with the Canadian Armed Forces, spending 10 years as a combat systems engineer.
In 1984, Garneau became the first Canadian astronaut to go to space and from 2001 to 2005 was president of the Canadian Space Agency.
As a federal politician from 2008 to 2023, he served as Liberal house leader, minister of transport and minister of foreign affairs.
He resigned his seat in the House of Commons about six months ago.
Garneau described space and politics as being equally challenging but for different reasons.
“Space is challenging, because you have to get it right. You are going on a specific mission, and I’ve had the honor of doing three of them, and you’re given responsibilities, and you really only have one chance of getting them right, and you’re on a very tight timeline.
“So, you really, really have to prepare well, and the consequences of not being able to do what you are assigned to do are pretty, pretty high, because space missions are expensive. They represent years of work by many, many people, and so the pressure is on you to do it right, the part that you’re responsible for.”
On his last two missions, Garneau operated the Canadian arm on the space shuttle and in one case had to capture a spacecraft with that arm.
During his last mission, he used the arm to attach a big piece of the International Space Station.
Politics was challenging, meanwhile, because it involved dealing with people’s opinions and representing thousands of constituents.
“My job was to represent them knowing that some of them agreed with me on most of what I believe in as a Liberal but not everybody does, and yet it’s my responsibility to represent all of them and to address their concerns and to be there to listen and then ultimately to make a decision, so it’s challenging in a different way,” he said.
“And it very much involves human beings when you’re in politics. Much more so in some ways than the space business where you’re dealing with equipment and that kind of thing.”
Garneau was driven to undertake such challenging ventures out of curiosity and a healthy hunger for adventure.
“I like the challenge, I like to rise to the occasion and I feel that I've been able to find jobs that I’m passionate about,” he said.
Space travel is always challenging, but the first time is an especially unique experience that can’t be replicated with a simulator.
“When I did my second and my third mission, it wasn’t so much of an unknown for me, because I've had the experience of one flight,” Garneau said.
“But I had a whole bunch of different responsibilities on each of my flights, so in that sense, it was completely new each time, and, of course, the stakes are just as high for each of those flights, so it certainly is something that never becomes routine.”
His favourite part about space is looking at Earth, and even though astronauts have many responsibilities up in space, it was important to savour the experience whenever possible.
“All of humanity shares the planet and it’s surrounded by the darkness of space, and we have no other place to go to, and we have some challenges that we’re facing, and we have to address those challenges and find a way to get along with each other down on Earth,” Garneau said.
“You think about those things when you’re looking out of the window and as you’re travelling over countries, and that, I think, is my favorite part, but it’s also the part that’s probably the most profound experience.”
For young people interested in becoming astronauts, Garneau said they should obtain a university degree (either in sciences, engineering or medicine), stay physically fit and develop their communication abilities.
Tickets are available at www.jasperdarksky.travel/event/
