Reaction To Canada's Importance to Space Exploration

Reaction To Canada's Importance to Space Exploration

This is my reaction to Canada's Importance to Space Exploration

In this video I react to the history of Canadian space exploration with a very interesting documentary narrated by legendary Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield.

[margaretjames]

Many years ago, I was at an international space security conference and one of the British organizers made a crack about having a Canadian astronaut as the keynote speaker, because what does Canada know about space. The keynote speaker was Chris Hadfield who had just returned from his second trip to space to install Canadarm2. That organizer had to eat his words. lol

[Blastnet_DanHarris]

My aunt worked at Spar aerospace in the 1980s. As a kid she took me on a tour once and it was impressive even if I didn't really understand what was going on at the time. There was actually a Canadarm build for each of the space shuttles, it's incredible and a fascinating tidbit is that it won't work in atmosphere. It's just too heavy and needs the weightlessness to be able to function. I was privileged to get to see and touch one (wasn't supposed to touch, but couldn't help myself) when I was able to attend a Shuttle decommissioning event at MDA in Toronto in 2011. I also got to call Marc Garneau a colleague for 4 years even if we sat on different parts of the political spectrum. He autographed a Lego Shuttle that I have and I got to debate him over a number of different issues. One of my proudest fights was to save the funding for RCM, The Radarsat Constellation Mission. Watching it launch into space with my kids is a moment I'll never forget.

Space is aspirational and doing things in space requires large investments, but it often yields incredible returns.

[johnquanz]

There were many Canadian Engineers that went to NASA after the Avro Arrow was cancelled. The had a very large impact on the Gemini and Apollo space programs. At the beginning around 1/3 of the NASA engineers were Canadian.

[sylviedaragon]

Born in Montreal, Canada, NASA engineer, Farah Alibay conceived and successfully operated an helicopter robot on Mars in 2021. Also born in Quebec, astronaut David St-Jacques, accomplished a 203-day mission in space in 2019.

[CRISPINU]

There was a sixty foot long circuit board in the Canada Arm that I made. It was very cool.

[GoWestYoungMan]

Canada's contribution to space is largely glossed over. 3rd nation is space is quite an achievement as are the 3 robotic arms. Something not touched upon in the video are the 1000s of Canadian engineers that re-emerged at US and British aerospace companies with the termination of the 1958 AVRO Arrow fighter get program. They helped build Boeing, Lockheed, and develop the Concord (there's a reason it looks like the Arrow) but they also surfaced at NASA helping build the US space shuttle program.

[SnowmanN]

A little known fact is that the landing legs on the lunar module were built by Heroux Aerospace (now Heroux-Devtek) of Longueuil (Montreal), Quebec. Neil Armstrong exited the module 6 hours and 39 minutes after landing, so for that brief moment in time Canada was on the moon before the USA. Hooray for us!!! lol.

[cbrbird]

A great little video by Chris Hadfield. I didn't know that he's also a successful author, until I received his book, The Apollo Murders, as a Christmas present. It's a great spy thriller, which was followed by The Defector in the same genre. Both great and easy reads.

[Wanda]

SCTV's Bob and Doug MacKenzie mentioned the Canadarm. They said that if a Canadian invented it, you just know it's got to be able to open a beer. "Which means those guys are having a beauty time up there in space, eh!"

[VirginiaPeden-Harrington-qdzu]

Canada, thanks for all you have done for the advancement of science and space exploration. You have quietly given remarkable advancements to the world of science.

[OliBP]

That's the kind of thing that makes me really proud to be a Canadian!

[karenpower]

Jeremy Hansen is set to be the next Canadian in space. In 2025, Artemis II will embark on a mission around the moon, the first Canadian to ever do this! Very proud of Jeremy and all of our humble astronauts who've contributed to the space program. It would be great if you could do a reaction video on Jeremy as well. Thanks Mert!

[lorimontcalm]

Yep, we Canadians are pretty proud of the Canadarm 1 &2, and generally of our astronauts! 🇨🇦❤️🇨🇦

[michelleportch]

Craig is married into my family. He is one of the people responsible for Canadarm, and I consider him a legit space scientist. So proud.

[Rocky]

Canada has a L O N G history in robotics. As an 11 yr old kid, I was part of a group of students who got to spend an afternoon with scientist and explorers and the thing I remember most was being told that "if we wanted to guarantee ourselves a bright future that we should consider the field of robotics". I'm now 66 yrs old an 'they' were right.

[pvdogs]

In the 50s, Avro Canada designed and was building an interceptor aircraft to defend against bomber attacks by Russia. In 1959, the project was scrapped and all employees were terminated. Immediately 30+ of their engineers (Canadian and British) were recruited by NASA. They were classified as 'foreign alien scientists'. They worked on space programs including The Apollo Program.Two of them were honoured on Canadian postage stamps for their contributions to the Apollo Project.

[jacquescote-btrv]

This makes me proud to be Canadien. Thanks to you for showing this for person's that did not know this.

[billybob-vi]

The builders of the Canada Arm 1, 2 and soon Canadarm 3 will be deployed too, by MDA Space (aka MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates). Actually got back the original Canadarm "gripper hand" back from SpaceX. Today they are building huge satellite constellations 100+ for Telesat. The future of communications and navigation networks out of Montreal.

[Dimcle]

The first trip to the moon wouldn't have happened without Canada. The engineers at NASA could not design and build the feet of the lunar lander. Finally, the job was given to Canada and we succeeded. So, the machine that sits on the moon, and will forevermore, sits on Canadian feet. 😅

[trishemerald]

Wow I'm born & raised in the nation's capital and I had no idea we were the third in space. I knew about the Canadarm though - it's in my lifetime.