CTV.ca News Staff

After months of intense interviews and rigorous physical and skills tests, two new astronauts joined Canada's Astronaut Corps Wednesday at the culmination of the third national recruitment campaign.

Jeremy Hansen of Cold Lake, Alta. and David Saint-Jacques, of Montreal, were introduced by Industry Minister Tony Clement during a news conference at the Canada Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa.

Hansen is an accomplished CF-18 fighter pilot.

He held the position of Combat Operations Officer at 4 Wing Cold Lake, Alta., where his responsibilities included ensuring the effectiveness of NORAD air defence operations.

"Today is the realization of a lifelong dream and goal for me," Hansen said. "It was a goal because I'd watched other Canadians live and work in space and I knew that it was possible as a Canadian to do that."

Saint-Jacques has a PhD in astrophysics from Cambridge and is a medical doctor who most recently practiced at Inuulitsivik Health Centre in Puvirnituq, Northern Quebec.

He has also lectured at McGill University's medical school in Montreal.

"I am looking forward to starting training for this great mission," Saint-Jacques said.

Canadian Space Agency president and former astronaut Steve MacLean said the two new astronauts will inspire Canadians.

"They are at the beginning of an amazing career," MacLean said. "They have a tough job to do and they will become the next generation of Canadian space explorers."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered his congratulations to the two men on Wednesday, saying that they will "build on Canada's legacy of leadership in the exploration and development of this final frontier."

"I am confident that Jeremy Hansen and David Saint-Jacques will build on this heritage and inspire a new generation of Canadians to not only dream of the stars, but also work to make that dream happen."

Harper said the astronauts "are setting an example for the scientists, technologists and mathematicians of the future."

Hansen and Saint-Jacques are the first new recruits since 1992 and bring the total number of Canadians to join the astronaut corps to 12.

They were chosen from among 16 finalists, who themselves were selected from an initial applicant pool of more than 5,300 hopefuls.

The agency launched the recruitment campaign in May 2008 with a call for online applications.

After MacLean announced the 16 finalists in March, they were subjected to a series of interviews and medical tests, which ranged from assessments of their knowledge of robotics to physical fitness evaluations.

Born Jan. 27, 1976 in London, Ont., and raised in Ingersoll, Ont., Hansen started his flight career at an early age by enrolling into the Air Cadets. Later, he went on to study at the Royal Military College in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.

Hansen obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in space science from the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont., in 1999. There, he also earned a master of science in physics in 2000.

"If we're lucky, and if Canada gets involved... we might be going back to the moon," Hansen told CTV's Canada AM on Thursday.

"For me that's a real challenge and dream."

Now married with three children, Hansen enjoys sailing, mountain biking, rock climbing and playing hockey, says the Canadian Space Agency website.

Saint-Jacques was born on Jan. 6, 1970 in Quebec City, Que., and raised in Saint-Lambert, Que.

He started his career as a biomedical engineer. His postdoctoral research from 1999 to 2000 involved the development and application of the Mitaka Infrared Interferometer and the Subaru Telescope Adaptive Optics System in Japan. In 2002 during his medical studies, he researched traditional Maya medicine and midwifery in Guatemala.

The astronaut search is the third of its kind in Canada. In 1983, the search yielded Roberta Bondar, Marc Garneau, Robert Thirsk, Ken Money, Bjarni Tryggvason and MacLean.

The 1992 search produced Chris Hadfield, Julie Payette, Dave Williams and Mike Mackay.

The new astronauts will participate in a brief training session at Canadian Space Agency headquarters this summer and will assist other Canadian astronauts who are preparing to head to space this year.

On May 27, Thirsk will blast off from Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz rocket alongside an international team of astronauts.

His six-month trip to the International Space Station will be the longest mission in the history of Canada's Human Space Program.

Payette will be a mission specialist aboard the shuttle Endeavour, which is scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 13. She, too, will be making a stop at the International Space Station.

In August, Hansen and Saint-Jacques will travel to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston for astronaut training.

With files from The Canadian Press

Comments are now closed for this story

Tono
I would have been happier seeing the CSA actually build its OWN space program, rather than just hitch-hiking with NASA. We have the technological power. We should start building our own rockets and stuff!

Grace Blackstone
Where are the women and visible minorities? This should be an equal opportunity employer!

Francis from Ottawa
This is not about being an equal opportunity employer but having the best candidates possible to represent Canada in Space.

DW in Vancouver BC
This is equal opportunity. Just because the "visible minorities" and women did not make the cut does not mean that it was not a equal opportunity. Why if there is no successful women or visible minority candidates do people think it was not a fair competition. Should we lower the standards or requirements to fill the position with visible minorities and women?

Chris in Calgary
Re: Minorities; The fact that Saint-Jacques has a PhD in astrophysics from Cambridge and was a medical doctor practicing at Inuulitsivik Health Centre in Puvirnituq, Northern Quebec, definately qualifies him as a minority. He's only the second guy I've ever known that's done that.

Congrats!
What a great day for these men! For Canada and for the CSA. Congrats!

Grace Blackstone...
This is a great day for Canada and the CSA. Why would you even make such an off the wall comment.
These astronauts were chosen because of their skill and expertise. The CSA IS an equal opportunity employer! and if there had been any women or visible minorities that had a the skill set and/or expertise to match or exceed these new recruits then they would have been chosen.

I want my Canadian astronauts to get the job because they excel at what they do NOT because they are female or belong to a minority group.

Ian in Ottawa
Grace:
When 2 finalists are chosen amongst 5,300 candidates, it's impossible to ensure every minority is represented. We have equal opportunity in Canada-- don't kid yourself. What you're asking is preferential treatment. Quality should ALWAYS trump equal opportunity.

Jb in Ontario
Do Canada proud new Astronauts! Best of luck in your training starting in August. Bring back a moon rock. We are pulling for you!

Jimmy

Audrey
Way to go Jeremy!!!
We were all keeping our fingers crossed and now we get to watch your career soar even higher.

Maria-Toronto
Congratulations to our fellow Canadians!
I'm sure the positions were open to women, visible minorities etc etc...
But the two men were the successful candidates.
Good for them and continued success is wished their way.
And TONO...I completely agree with you!!

Dave in Gan
Sorry Grace, if there weren't any women or visible minorities that were best qualified for the job, going into space isn't the time to be giving underqualified people the job. Or are you suggesting that they deliberately didn't pick any women or visible minorities?

Ben Choplen
Grace
Does the name Roberta Bondar ring any bells for you? Canada led with a female astronaut as our 2nd ever astronaut. Perhaps in your opinion should they all be female or minorities? Where is the equality in that?

Congratulations to the new astronauts, I'm sure they will both serve our country proudly.

Amy Gillis (Halifax)
With all due respect, Grace, it is such 'over-skewed' thinking about ensuring women and minorities are hired that actually brings the quality and prosperity of the 'equal opportunity'movement down. There is such a thing as going too far the other way. They were obviously the most qualified for the job. Congratulations, gentlemen! Good luck!!

scott pyke from halifax
To Grace Blackstone

I do believe that the CSA is an equal opportunity. However, the CSA does have to pick the most QUALIFIED individuals. The CSA has a reponsibility to send into space the most trained and proven minds in that dangerous profession. There will still be slots available in the near future I would assume, and hopethat these "minorities" would apply. I can speak for one minority who applied and got denied as not enough background training. They have every right to pick the best of the best not just based on race or sex

You Wish You Were In SK
Grace:
Can't remember who said it but;
"In Canada, the prettiest girl doesn't win the beauty contest because she already has something".
I'd like my astronauts to be the best we have, thanks.

Rick in Olds, AB
Most comments are on the mark except the minorities one (skill first please, quotas come second in serious jobs like this)and the one about our own program. There is no way in hell that Canada could ever afford a space prgram like NASA on its own. On top of that, international cooperation on this stuff is for the best, and will help keep our petty rivalries down here on erath and not spread them into space. I'm proud of our involvement. For a country with less population than the State of California alone (and a corresponding amount of income tax to work from), we're doing well on the world stage.

Rod
Congratulations to these two extraordinary young men... this is very exciting news.

To Tono (1st post) -- remember the AVRO ARROW... Canada will never have a parallel defence program or parallel space program to the US.... it just won't happen. You can debate the reasons until you die, but it just won't happen.

White Male
I applaud Grace Blackstone for asking the question.

She's not asking the CSA to appoint a woman or a visible minority if the have no experience.

The bigger picture is that historically these groups do not have the same opportunity for training white men have and are therefore at a disadvantage.

It's a larger social question than most respondents here seem to understand.

Thanks for asking the question, Grace.

John
Bravo. Best of luck ! Enjoy this great opportunity!!!

Shaking my Head
I am very impressed by David's resume. However, I can't help but wonder why Jeremy was picked. As he himself said, there's nothing special about him. In fact, he wouldn't even pass NASA's initial screening due to his lack of experience and training. (He is not a graduate of a test pilot school nor does he have combat experience.) He also appears to be too tall to do an EVA - not sure about that...
I'm embarrassed for him! He won't have any credibility in Houston. This is the best we've got?

tino
it would be nice to build our own space program but we can't clean up the water front let alone build a space program, canada just doesn't have the know how to accomplish anything big as a space program.

Mike Webster, Mississauga
Congratulations to two of Canada's best and brightest. I'm sure that both of these men will serve with distinction and do us all proud.

To all of you people yapping about minorities....give your heads a shake. This is not about choosing the most "representative" candidate or choosing the most "politically correct" candidate. This is about selecting the two best candidates for the job PERIOD. There should be no consideration AT ALL towards ensuring that minorities or women are represented. The only consideration should be choosing the most qualified candidate with no mind to gender or race.

Canada actually does have women astronauts - look at Julie Payete. She is a highly successful female Canadian astronaut and she attained that position not because she is a woman and not because she was given any preferential treatment as a woman but because she competed against the best of the best and came out on top.

ed
Tono,

as an actual rocket scientist I can assure you that Canada does not have the technology, skilled personnel, or industrial capability to get a man in space anytime soon. Canada has been forcing its young minds out for the past half century. Any quick look at the feeble aerospace industry in Canada by yourself will show you that companies in Canada hire people with low level skills doing non-technical work.

Assembly is not a high skill and Canada has virtually no research and development. Canadians bitch and moan in these comment areas about how Canada needs skilled labour, but the simple fact is that the skilled labour works for the highly educated who come up with ideas and processes needed to employ skilled labour. This country has a love affair with university degrees in arts and other less useful categories. Canada is known as a technological backwater, and source of cheap labour for low technology(usually legacy that produce minor profits) assembly and production in the American and British aerospace industries. Can anyone name a Canadian university that still has an accredited aerospace program? Any search for science, math or engineering jobs required for this task will give an idea of where technology is in this country. Then do the same search in European or American cities.

Patrick/Ottawa
Congratulations to CSA, our 2 new astronauts and their colleagues ..Reach for the stars and beyond...!

Mike from Toronto
Grace Blackstone, you have got to be kidding me? Equal opportunity employer? You actually think that are that many people with are both medical doctors and astrophysics PhD holders out there to attempt to ensure that all minority groups are equally represented? There are probably only a dozen potential candidates with a real chance in the entire country. Get real.

Darlene, NS
Hold on there, people. Some of you are treading on thin ice with the 'equal opportunity' comments and I'll bet you don't even realize it.

First of all, I do agree that the most qualified people should get the job. Always. Not just depending on the importance of the position. Some of you are implying (whether you meant to or not, it's what you're conveying) that the position of astronaut is too important for a women to hold, and that's wrong.

Furthermore, I am absolutely offended and appalled that a good number of you people are just ASSUMING that there are no women in Canada who are just as qualified as these men! I happen to know for a fact, because I know them personally, that there are many women in Canada who ARE just as qualified as either of these two men, but they did not apply and so were not considered.

Grace, I believe your question should have been "what was done to reach these qualified women so they would apply?". That is the big question for 'equal opportunity' - not who was chosen, but how the pool of candidates was gathered to ensure that ALL qualified applicants, male and female, are included for consideration.

Congratulations to the new astronauts :)