Canada is relatively new at the astronaut game. The search for Canada's first person in space didn’t begin until 1983, when the United States invited its neighbour to join the crew of the space shuttle. The National Research Council of Canada asked interested people to apply: 4,000 responded.

Astronauts (first row, left to right) Roberta Bondar, Chris Hadfield, Robert Thirsk, Bjarni Tryggvason, and (second row, left to right) Marc Garneau, Steve Maclean, Julie Payette and Dave Williams pose for a photo at the John H. Chapman Space Centre in St. Hubert, Que., on Friday, Sept. 26, 2003. All eight Canadians who have spent time in space attended a ceremony where Canada Post unveiled an eight-stamp set. (Andre Pichette/Canadian Press)

The Canadian Astronaut Program was born when the NRC whittled down the list to six bona fide astronauts-in-training. They were Roberta Bondar, Marc Garneau, Steve MacLean, Ken Money, Robert Thirsk and Bjarni Tryggvason.

As of July 2005, 10 Canadians have trained to be astronauts. Eight have tested their skills in space, but two – Ken Money and Mike McKay – haven't flown a space mission.

Canadians in space

In April 2003, Steve MacLean was scheduled to blast off into space, walk in zero gravity and operate the Canadarm 2. But the shuttle fleet was grounded after Columbia broke into pieces on Feb. 1, 2003, killing all seven astronauts aboard.

MacLean flew a decade earlier as the payload specialist on Columbia, in charge of a series of Canadian scientific experiments.

His chance to fly again came in September 2006 when Atlantis launched the first space-station assembly mission since the Columbia disaster. As part of the mission he became the first Canadian to operate the Canadarm 2 in space.

Canada's role in the international space program has been increasing since Garneau became the first Canadian in space on the space shuttle Challenger in 1984. Garneau, who was named president of the Canadian Space Agency in November 2001, returned to orbit in 1996 and 2000 on Endeavour, logging 677 hours in space. He's the only Canadian to blast off three times.

Garneau resigned from the Canadian Space Agency on Nov. 28, 2005, to run as a Liberal candidate in the January 2006 federal election. Garneau ran in the rural Quebec riding of Vaudreuil-Soulanges, but was defeated by Bloc Québécois incumbent Meili Faille. Garneau has not announced if he will run again for a seat in the House of Commons, but he did write a newspaper article on how the Liberals should try to regain support in Quebec.

In June 1996, Robert Thirsk flew as a payload specialist aboard space shuttle Columbia's Life and Microgravity Spacelab mission. During this 17-day flight, he and his six crewmates performed 43 experiments, some devoted to the study of changes in plants, animals and humans under space flight conditions. Thirsk also trained as backup crewmember for a Russian Soyuz mission in 2005, the first Canadian astronaut to do so.

On Aug. 7, 1997, Bjarni Tryggvason, a native of Iceland who grew up in British Columbia, flew as a payload specialist aboard the space shuttle Discovery.

Julie Payette flew on Discovery from May 27-June 6, 1999, and orbited Earth 93 times over 10 days. Payette was the second Canadian woman in space after Roberta Bondar, who was one of three payload specialists aboard Discovery when it blasted off Jan. 22, 1992. Bondar retired from the space program later that year to return to research.

Canadian Astronauts Name Year in space Marc Garneau 1984 1996 2000 Roberta Bondar 1992 Steve MacLean 1992 2006 Chris Hadfield 1995 2001 Robert Thirsk 1996 Bjarni Tryggvason 1997 Dave Williams 1998 Julie Payette 1999

On April 17, 1998, Dr. Dave Williams participated in Neurolab, a 16-day mission aboard the space shuttle Columbia. The mission was dedicated to the advancement of neuroscience research, directing its attention to the effects of weightlessness on the nervous system.

Chris Hadfield made his first shuttle flight in 1995 aboard Atlantis and returned on April 20, 2001, to make history by becoming Canada's first astronaut to walk in space. Hadfield completed a harrowing second space-walk four days later. A NASA veteran called Hadfield's second walk the most tense he had seen in 27 years, but Hadfield and his partner, Scott Parazynski, got full marks after spending seven hours and 40 minutes in zero gravity to make repairs to the International Space Station.

Soon after returning to Earth, Hadfield was assigned to the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Star City, Russia, where he became director of operations for NASA.

With the resumption of the shuttle program, one Canadian is expected to take part in missions every three years.