3 days ago
Marc Garneau, First Canadian in Space, Dies at 76
Marc Garneau, a former military officer who became the first Canadian to fly to space before pursuing a second career in federal politics under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has died. He was 76.
His death was announced on Wednesday in a statement from his wife, Pamela Garneau, who said that Mr. Garneau had been receiving treatment for a brief illness. She did not specify the cause of death or say where he had died. The couple lived in Montreal.
'Marc faced his final days with the same strength, clarity and grace that defined his life,' she said in the statement.
Mr. Garneau, a third-generation military officer, was stationed at the National Defense Headquarters in Ottawa, leading its communications and electronic warfare section, when, one evening in 1983, a newspaper ad caught his eye: Canada was looking for astronauts.
It set him on a path to space.
Mr. Garneau made his first voyage in 1984 on the space shuttle Challenger, its sixth flight that year. His duties included measuring atmospheric pollution and water vapor at specific points during the Earth's orbit.
He flew to space twice more, in 1996 and 2000, on Endeavour (Challenger had exploded in 1986, killing all seven crew members on board), and was appointed the head of the Canadian Space Agency in 2001.
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