This week we celebrate 20 years of continuous human presence in space. Since November 2000, the International Space Station has been home to astronauts from around the world — by 239 people from 19 different countries, including Canada. The Station program had a slow start in the 1990s – there were many technical, political and […]
We are now six months into the Covid-19 pandemic. The SARS-CoV-2 virus is unfortunately still prevalent and continues to inflict social and economic turmoil throughout our world. Rarely has an unseen threat created such havoc. The swiftness, scale and severity of the outbreak took us all by surprise. Initial responses of some jurisdictions were reactive, […]
Home isolation measures are a means to control the number of COVID-19 cases. But living continuously in close quarters with family members can be challenging. Here are a few strategies that I learned as an astronaut about successfully living and working as a crew in space. They may be helpful to you.
I did a fun interview with Experience magazine this week. The questions were thought-provoking. Besides asking me about my spaceflights, I was also asked about my thoughts on emerging technologies.
In my opinion, the Apollo 11 moon landing was the highlight of the 20th century. It took everything that humanity had – a culmination of a decade of technology development – to pull together this capability to get us off the planet.
Last month I visited with the Masters students of International Space University. Each year the university, based in Strasbourg, France, offers a one-year graduate studies program to about 40 international students – young professionals who wish to learn more about the space program and who aspire to push back frontiers. This year’s students have completed […]
On December 3, David Saint-Jacques will launch with two crewmates from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a Russian Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station. David will spend six months aboard the Station as part of the ‘C3’ expedition, Canada’s third long-duration mission. Preparation for an ISS expedition is a significant undertaking requiring the […]
A new art exhibition entitled Cosmos opened Saturday at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary. The exhibition features intriguing works by three esteemed Canadian artists – Gathie Falk, Margaret Nazon and Erik Olson – on the subject of space. A few months earlier, Melanie Kjorlien, Glenbow Vice President, approached me to submit a narrative about her […]
I dropped in last week on an educational workshop being held at the Vancouver office of SAP Canada. 40 Grade 6 to 9 students and their teachers from local schools were engaged in a hands-on project called Living Space. As I moved about their workspace, I noted that the students and teachers were coding tiny […]
I had the privilege this morning to meet Canada’s outstanding elementary and secondary school teachers. 27 of our nation’s best educators were in Ottawa as recipients of the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence and for Excellence in Early Childhood Education. Their visit coincided with World Teachers’ Day which is held annually on October 5th.