Since their launches in 1977, NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft have captured my interest. The Voyager missions gave us stunning, close-up views of the outer planets and provided insights about phenomena at the edge of our solar system. Voyager 1 left the solar system in 2013 and is now interstellar, speeding outward through empty […]
I was at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston earlier this month for my annual medical exam. This exam is part of the Longitudinal Study on Astronaut Health, an occupational surveillance program for former astronauts (see my earlier blog about this proactive medical surveillance program.) In addition to the usual physical exam and laboratory […]
One of my favourite Old Testament heroes is Gideon. Gideon was a prominent judge who led the Israelites in several key battles around 1150 BCE. In one story, Gideon recruited 32,000 Israeli volunteers in preparation to fight the Midians. This army, however, was deemed by God to be much too large so Gideon was directed […]
This summer I have been reading the book Two Days in June (ISBN 978-0-7710-2387-3) by author and journalist Andrew Cohen. The book describes in depth the thoughts and actions of John F. Kennedy during an eventful two-day period of his presidency in June 1963. I always thought that I knew a lot about this great […]
I went for a walk on Monday (see the red track below). I’ll provide a signed photo to the first person who can state where I am and why I am visiting this region. Good luck! Hint: It should be easy to determine where I was. As for why I am here … well, that’ll […]
Although I retired as an astronaut several years ago, I remain engaged with the Canadian Space Agency. Human spaceflight is my passion and I continue to do whatever I can to advance Canada’s role in space exploration. I suppose ‘once an astronaut, always an astronaut’. I spent two days in Houston last week participating in […]
Ian Minnifee is a proud alumnus (BA’94 – Economics) of the University of Calgary. As a student, he was member of the Varsity Men’s Basketball Team. Ian bleeds Dino red and continues to be a strong supporter of our basketball team (BTW what a tremendous season they had this year!) and our entire Athletics program. […]
On Monday morning (June 6) we held the convocation ceremony for the 2016 University of Calgary graduates in Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and Nursing. During this ceremony, we also conferred an honorary degree on Geoffrey Cumming, the Calgary businessman who provided one of the largest philanthropic gifts ever given to a Canadian university. With this gift, […]
I serve on the Board of Governors of the University of Calgary. Bonnie DuPont is our chairperson. Her term on our Board is sadly coming to an end. When she joined our Board in 2006, Bonnie worked to drive improvements in the university’s governance, risk management and human resources strategies. She brought a thoughtful and […]
I participated on May 19 in the graduation ceremony for the 2016 class of Robert Thirsk High School. What a joy that was! It was the second graduation for the school which has now been open for three years and has grown to 1400 ‘Comets’. Amazing. The ceremony was especially memorable since this morning’s graduands were the […]
