— Astronaut Marc Garneau, who in 1984 turned the primary Canadian to fly into house, has died on the age of 76.
Garneau flew on three U.S. house shuttle missions, was president of the Canadian Area Company and served in Canada’s Parliament for 15 years.
Garneau’s spouse issued an announcement upon his demise on Wednesday (June 4).
“Marc confronted his last days with the identical energy, readability and beauty that outlined his life,” wrote Pam Garneau. “He handed away peacefully, surrounded by the love of his household.”
“I be a part of all Canadians tonight in mourning the passing of Marc Garneau,” stated Mark Carney, the Prime Minister of Canada, in an announcement. “A naval officer, a history-making astronaut, and a public servant of remarkable distinction, he introduced dedication and obligation to each put up he held. I prolong my deepest condolences to his household, buddies, colleagues, and to all Canadians who regarded to him for inspiration. Might all of us keep in mind him for the nationwide delight and risk he represented to us all.”
Garneau was the one member of Canada’s army to be chosen to turn out to be one in all Canada’s first six astronauts in 1983. He made his first spaceflight launching as a payload specialist on NASA’s STS-41G mission on the house shuttle Challenger on Oct. 5, 1984.
A member of the primary seven-person crew, Garneau flew alongside Robert Crippen, Jon McBride, David Leestma, Sally Journey, Kathy Sullivan and Paul Scully-Energy.
Garneau turned the primary Canadian to see firsthand the Canadarm, the distant manipulator system that Canada contributed to the U.S. house shuttle program, because it was used on orbit. Amongst his bundle of 10 Canadian-sponsored experiments was a check of a imaginative and prescient system that improved management of the robotic arm.
He additionally oversaw checks exposing completely different superior composite supplies to the vacuum of house and performed a number of experiments on how people adapt to spaceflight on behalf of Canada’s Nationwide Analysis Council, the predecessor to the Canadian Area Company (CSA), which was based in 1989.
“[Garneau] was massive into photo voltaic physics, so he did a variety of experimentation on our flight, learning our solar with pictures and different sources,” stated McBride, STS-41G’s pilot, in a 2012 NASA oral historical past interview.
The eight-day flight ended with a landing on Oct. 13, 1984, at Kennedy Area Middle’s Shuttle Touchdown Facility in Florida.
Garneau’s subsequent mission got here greater than a decade later, partly as a result of lack of Challenger and its STS-51L crew in 1986. Within the interim, he was named deputy director of the Canadian Area Company’s astronaut program in 1989 after which was chosen to coach a NASA mission specialist in 1992.
As a part of his elevated obligations at Johnson Area Middle in Houston, Garneau served as a capcom (capsule communicator) in NASA’s mission management.
On Might 19, 1996, Garneau launched on his second shuttle mission, STS-77, on board the orbiter Endeavour. His crewmates included John Casper, Curt Brown, Andy Thomas, Dan Bursch and Mario Runco.
In the course of the 10-day flight, Garneau flew with a number of extra Canadian experiments, together with the Business Float Zone Furnace (CFZF), a chamber used to develop giant, extremely pure crystals to be used with semiconductors, for which he was accountable. Garneau additionally took management of the Canadarm in Endeavour’s payload bay to deploy and retrieve Spartan, a free-flying platform for house analysis.
Fellow Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield supported Garneau and his crewmates as a capcom through the mission.
“Marc Garneau was my function mannequin, mentor, 30-plus 12 months shut buddy and a courageous and exemplary Canadian for us all,” wrote Hadfield on social media Wednesday. “The world has misplaced an excellent man.”
STS-77 landed on Might 29, 1996 on the Kennedy Area Middle.
4 and half years, Garneau lifted off on his third spaceflight, STS-97, on Dec. 2, 2000. His crewmates aboard Endeavour had been Brent Jett, Michael Bloomfield, Joe Tanner and Carlos Noriega.
The mission introduced Garneau to the Worldwide Area Station, the place he used the Canadarm to mount the orbiting laboratory’s first pair of electricity-generating photo voltaic array wings. Garneau additionally supported Tanner and Noriega as they went out on spacewalks to finish the set up of the arrays.
The final human spaceflight of the twentieth century, Endeavour’s landing in Florida on Dec. 11, 2000, additionally marked the tip of Garneau’s last mission. In whole, he logged 29 days, one hour and 59 minutes in flight, having circled Earth 465 instances.
Joseph Jean-Pierre Marc Garneau was born on Feb. 23, 1949 in Quebec Metropolis, Quebec. In 1970, he graduated from the Royal Navy School of Canada with a bachelor of science in engineering physics and joined the Canadian Forces Maritime Command.
In 1973, Garneau earned a doctorate in electrical engineering from the Imperial School of Science and Expertise in London, England. The subsequent 12 months, he served as a fight programs engineer aboard the HMCS Algonquin, an Iroquois-class destroyer in service to the Canadian Navy.
Garneau then turned an teacher in naval weapon programs on the Canadian Forces Fleet Faculty in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the place he designed a simulator to coach weapons officers. In 1977, he served as a venture engineer in naval weapon programs in Ottawa after which returned to Halifax with the Naval Engineering Unit till 1982, when he was promoted to commander whereas at Workers School in Toronto.
In 1983, previous to his choice as an astronaut, Garneau was transferred to Ottawa and have become the design authority for naval communications and digital warfare tools and programs.
In 2001, after returning to Canada from Houston, Garneau was named government vp of the Canadian Area Company and a 12 months later turned president, a place he held via 2005.
“We’re deeply grateful to Marc Garneau for his extraordinary public service, visionary management and enduring contributions to Canada and the world,” Lisa Campbell, president of the Canadian Area Company, stated in an announcement. “His legacy will proceed to encourage us as we advance the function of house in enhancing life on Earth.”
Tapping into his movie star as Canada’s first astronaut, Garneau campaigned for and gained a seat in Canada’s Parliament representing Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (previously Westmount-Ville-Marie) in 2008. He was reelected to the Home of Commons in 2011 and 2015. That very same 12 months, he turned Minister of Transport after which served as Minister of Overseas Affairs in 2021.
In 2023, Garneau retired from politics.
“Sure, I used to be an astronaut, however I do not need to be outlined by what I did up there, however moderately who I’m,” stated Garneau in 2012, when he introduced his marketing campaign to turned the chief of the Liberal Celebration and Canada’s Prime Minister (he withdrew his candidacy 4 months later).”
“I’m proud to have had the singular honor of being Canada’s first astronaut, however I’m greater than that. I’m the son of the son of a army man who stood as much as tyranny, an engineer who understands that what turns science into magic is innovation, an government who has run a significant group famend around the globe, and an educator and a trainer who has led an modern and rising college. I’m a frontrunner,” he stated.
In October 2024, Garneau printed his memoirs, “A Most Extraordinary Journey: Area, Politics, and the Pursuit of a Canadian Dream” from Sign (an imprint of Penguin Random Home Canada).
For his service as an astronaut, Garneau was appointed an officer of the Order of Canada in 1984 after which promoted to the rank of companion in 2003. He was a recipient of the NASA Area Flight Medal and Distinctive Service Medal and was inducted into the Worldwide Area Corridor of Fame on the New Mexico Museum of Area Historical past ini 1992, amongst different awards.
Excessive faculties in Toronto and Trenton, Ontario are named in his honor and a Royal Canadian Air Cadets squadron bears his identify. In 2003, the Canada Put up included his likeness on a postage stamp as a part of a set celebrating Canadian astronauts.
Garneau was preceded in demise by his first spouse and mom to 2 of his youngsters, Jacqueline Brown, and his brother Philippe. He’s survived by his spouse Pam and 4 youngsters: Yves, Simone George and Adrien.
