Marc Garneau, born February 23, 1949 in Quebec City, Quebec, passed away today after a brief illness. He was the first Canadian in space when he launched on Challenger (STS-41-G) in October 1984. He went into space twice more, in May 1996 aboard Endeavour (STS-77), and finally in December 2000 aboard Endeavour (STS-97).
He was appointed executive vice-president of the Canadian Space Agency in 2001, and then he was announced as president in November 2001. He resigned from the CSA in November 2005.
He served as a member of Parliament for Notre-Dame-de-Grace - Westmount from 2008-2023. During that time, he served as Minister of Transport, and Minister of Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Front Row (L-R): Jon McBride, Sally Ride, Kathryn Sullivan, David Leestma
Back Row (L-R): Paul Scully-Power, Robert Crippen, Marc Garneau
On October 13, 1984, the Challenger (STS-41-G) crew woke up to OU's fight song Boomer Sooner and Rocket Man by Elton John. I haven't figured out the connection between OU and the mission. Rocket Man seems appropriate though.
They prepared for re-entry by closing the payload bay doors and fired the Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) engines over Australia. Due to the shuttle's 57-degree inclination, their re-entry took them over the eastern United States, which was one of many firsts experienced during the mission.
Challenger touched down at 12:25pm at Kennedy Space Center. They spent 8 days, 5 hours and 23 minutes in space, traveling almost 3.3M miles and completing 133 orbits.
It was the first shuttle to:
carry a crew of seven
carry two women into space
involve a woman in an EVA (Sullivan)
carry a Canadian into space (Garneau)
carry an Australian-born person into space (Scully-Power)
carry an astronaut with a beard into space (Scully-Power)
fly over the eastern US during re-entry
The crew consisted of Commander Robert Crippen, pilot Jon McBride, Kathryn Sullivan, Sally Ride, David Leestma, Paul Scully-Power, and Marc Garneau.
Commander Robert Crippen became the first American to complete two space missions in the same calendar year.
Footage of the mission appeared in The Dream is Alive, an IMAX documentary film about NASA's Space Shuttle program.
On Day 7 of Challenger's (STS-41-G) historic flight, the crew wok up to Take Me Home, Country Roads by John Denver. David Leestma and Kathryn Sullivan donned their space suits, with help from Jon McBride, to conduct an EVA. They maneuvered to the ORS, situated at the rear of the cargo bay. Leestma installed a valve assembly into the simulated Landsat propulsion plumbing.
Sullivan secured the Ku antenna as they headed back to the air lock. One of the two motors that steered the Ku antenna failed on the first day, but Mission Control managed to devise a workaround for it so it would point at the TDRS satellite and send the stored data to NASA. The EVA lasted 3 hours and 29 minutes and Sullivan became the first American woman to conduct a spacewalk.
The crew woke up to John Denver’s Leaving on a Jet Plane on Day
3, October 7. They lowered Challenger’s
orbit to 140 miles, which was the optimal altitude for the Shuttle Imaging
Radar-B (SIR-B) and other Earth-observing instruments. Garneau continued his
CANEX investigations. Leestma conducted several
scheduled ORS fuel transfers.
Scully-Power continued his oceanography studies.
Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau with the Sunphotometer
The second day of flight STS-41-G, the Challenger crew woke up to Irene
Cara’s Flashdance…What a Feeling.
Starting with Apollo 15, NASA started playing music to wake up the flight
crew. Each song is chosen specifically
by the astronauts’ families and typically has a special meaning to their family
member or the crew. Or it can be
applicable to their daily activities. I
haven’t found which astronaut is connected to this song.
The crew lowered the Challenger’s orbit to an altitude of
151 miles, down from 218 miles the day before. Marc Garneau began the Canadian
experiments (CANEX), sponsored by the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada.His experiments included investigations into
medical, atmospheric, climatic, materials, and robotic sciences.One piece of equipment Garneau used was the
Sunphotometer, a handheld instrument which measures solar radiation at several
wavelengths.The Canadian Atmospheric Environment
Service used the readings to measure local atmospheric constituents and to
monitor acidic haze.
Paul Scully-Power (Australian-American astronaut) began
oceanographic observations, and successfully photographed spiral eddies in the
world’s oceans.
David Leestma completed tests on the Orbital Refueling
System remote-controlled hydrazine fuel transfer. The structure was designed to
develop and demonstrate equipment and techniques for refueling satellites in
orbit.
Less than 9 hours after launch, the crew of the space shuttle Challenger (STS-41-G) deployed the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS). Sally Ride, on her second mission, used the Canadarm to remove the satellite from the payload bay. Then the ERBS fired its on-board thrusters and boosted it into orbit. It was the first spacecraft to be launched and deployed by a space shuttle mission.
One of the solar panels on the ERSB did not extend properly so Ride shook the satellite with the Canadarm for the panel to extend fully. Pilot Jon McBride maneuvered the shuttle away from the satellite when it was finally deployed.
The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE II), an instrument on board the ERSB, measured the decline in ozone over the Antarctic, and the data collected was key in the international community's decisions during the Montreal Protocol Agreement in 1987.
Another instrument was the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) Scanner which studied longwave radiation, shortwave radiation, and total energy radiating from Earth. The third instrument was the ERBE non-scanner, which measured the total energy from the sun. Both were included in the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System mission and NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission.
The instruments were powered off in August 2005 in preparation for decommissioning. During the decommissioning process, fuel was depleted, batteries were discharged, on-board memory was scrubbed, and the solar arrays were disconnected from the battery.
ERSB re-entered Earth's atmosphere on January 8, 2023.
Paul Scully-Power, born May 28, 1944 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, went into space aboard Challenger (STS-41-G) as payload specialist in October 1984. He is the first Australian astronaut and performed oceanography observations for the US Naval Research Lab. His mission was described in the book Oceans to Orbits: The Story of Australia's First Man in Space.
David Leestma, born May 6, 1949 in Muskegon, Michigan, is a veteran of three space missions.
His first flight was aboard Challenger (STS-41-G) as mission specialist in October 1984. He conducted an EVA with fellow astronaut Kathryn Sullivan which lasted 3 hours 29 minutes. It was filmed as part of the IMAX movie The Dream Is Alive, which aired in 1985.
His second flight was aboard Columbia (STS-28) as mission specialist in August 1989. It carried a payload for the US Department of Defense into orbit. They returned to Earth on August 13.
His third and final flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-45) as mission specialist in March-April 1992. They carried an array of instruments, that were not to be deployed, into space. They returned to Earth April 2.
Marc Garneau, born February 23, 1949 in Quebec City, Canada, is the first Canadian to go into space. He is a veteran of 3 space shuttle flights.
His first flight was aboard Challenger (STS-41-G) as payload specialist in October 1984. He conducted a series of experiments sponsored by the Canadian government.
His second flight was aboard Endeavour (STS-77) in May 1996 to the space station Mir as mission specialist. One of the experiments, the Commercial Float Zone Facility was a collaboration of Canada, the US and Germany.
Garneau's third and final flight was aboard Endeavour (STS-97) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in December 2000. He manipulated the Canadarm during the mission in support of the EVAs.
He became president of the Canadian Space Agency in November 2001. He resigned his position to enter Canadian politics in 2006.
Kathryn Sullivan, born October 3, 1951 in Paterson, New Jersey, is a veteran of three space shuttle flights and the first American woman to walk in space. She joined the US Naval Reserve in 1988 and retired as captain in 2006.
Her first flight was aboard Challenger (STS-41-G) in October 1984 as mission specialist. During this mission she conducted the first EVA for an American woman with fellow astronaut David Leetsma.
Her second mission was aboard Discovery (STS-31) as mission specialist in April 1990. The crew deployed the Hubble Space Telescope during the flight.
Sullivan's third and final was aboard Atlantis (STS-45) as mission specialist in March-April 1992. The crew carried a payload of instruments for scientific experiments, all non-deployable.
Robert "Bob" Crippen, born September 11, 1937, was aboard the first ever Space Shuttle flight, STS-1, on Columbia in April 1981. He served as commander on 3 more missions, each on Challenger. His second mission, with Sally Ride, was STS-7 in June 1983, during which satellites for Canada and Indonesia were released.
His third mission (STS-41-C) in April 1984 involved the first satellite repair operation, capturing, fixing and then releasing the Solar Maximum Mission satellite.
His final mission (STS-41-G) in October 1984 was the first 7-man crew. He was scheduled to command STS-62-A but that mission was cancelled after the Challenger explosion.
He has been inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame and the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, but more importantly, he was voted one of 1981's sexiest men by Playgirl magazine!
Bottom (L to R) Jon A. McBride, Pilot, Sally K. Ride, Kathryn D. Sullivan and David C. Leestma, Mission Specialists. Top (L-R) Paul D. Scully-Power (Australian), Payload Specialist; Robert L. Crippen, Commander, and Marc Garneau, Canadian Payload Specialist.
When the Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-41-G) launched on October 5, 1984, its crew contained the first Canadian astronaut, Marc Garneau. It also contained the first Australian-born astronaut, Paul Scully-Power, who was the first bearded astronaut! This was the first crew to include two women, and the first American woman EVA.
This was Challenger's sixth flight and the thirteenth of the Space Shuttle program. Robert Crippen commanded the mission, which lasted a little over 8 days. Challenger landed October 13.
