Canada’s first female astronaut and first neurologist in space. The Ontario native was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in neurology in 1981 before becoming one of six Canadians selected as an astronaut in 1983; she began her astronaut training in February 1984. On 22 January 1992 she flew as a prime payload specialist for the first International Microgravity Laboratory Mission aboard the space shuttle Discovery (STS-42). During the eight-day mission she performed experiments in the Spacelab and on the middeck. Bondar left the Canadian Space Agency on 4 September 1992 to pursue her research. Bondar has received many honours, including the Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario, the NASA Space Medal, over 22 honorary degrees, and induction into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.

Canadian Space Agency astronaut Roberta Bondar was Canada’s first woman astronaut.

Credit: NASA