Abstract
The success of Canada’s space program in the first half of the 1980s was largely the result of the country’s increased bilateral space cooperation with the United States. High-profile projects such as the shuttle’s Canadarm and the flight of Marc Garneau brought considerable public attention and praise to the program, in turn boosting government support for Canadian space activities at a time when the criticism the government faced over other American bilateral space cooperation may have seriously curbed such endeavors. Public opposition to Canadian participation in American military space efforts such as the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), for example, had little impact on other non-military cooperative ventures. While the government seriously debated Canada’s position and policy towards the American SDI in 1985–1986, the ICS was at that time busy finalizing plans for Canada’s future participation in the American Space Station Freedom project now scheduled to begin in the early 1990s. Such initiatives were a demonstration of how both Canadian nationalism and internationalism could work in outer space, despite the presence of some political friction between the two partners on Earth.
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Notes
- 1.
Canada, MOSST, Interim space Plan: 1985–1986. Ottawa: Canadian Space Program, March 20, 1985.
- 2.
Ibid., 2.
- 3.
Ibid., pp.3–5.
- 4.
CIIA, Canada and the American Space Program.
- 5.
Canada, MOSST, “Interim Space Plan for Canada Announced”, News Release. Ottawa: MSST, March 20, 1985.
- 6.
Subcontractors included CAE Electronics, Canadian Astronautics, DMSA Atcon, SED Systems Inc., and Dynacon.
- 7.
L. Dotto, Canada in Space. Toronto: Irwin Publishing, 1987, pp.259–262.
- 8.
Canada, MOSST, Interim Space Plan, 1985–1986. Ottawa: MSST, 1985; and Canada, MSST, The Canadian Space Program: New Initiatives. Ottawa: MSST, 1986.
- 9.
Ibid., pp.2–4.
- 10.
Op cit., L. Dotto, Canada in Space, p.262.
- 11.
Ibid., p.262.
- 12.
Ibid., p.264.
- 13.
Ibid., pp.268–269.
- 14.
Ibid., p.270.
- 15.
Jim Middleton, “Space Stations – Part 2: The Canadian Contribution”, King Weekly Sentinel, April 6, 2016. Accessed online on March 31, 2016 at http://kingsentinel.com/?p=7655
- 16.
Op. cit., L. Dotto, Canada in Space, p.276.
- 17.
Ibid.
- 18.
Ibid., p.147.
- 19.
Michael M. Atkinson and William D. Coleman, ‘Obstacles to Organizational Change: The Creation of the Canadian Space Agency’, Canadian Public Administration. 36:2, Summer, 1993, 137.
- 20.
Ibid., pp.137–138.
- 21.
Ibid.
- 22.
Ibid., p.140.
- 23.
Ibid., p.149. This said, some Canadian aerospace companies were more adaptable to ‘illogical’ government decision-making than others, and those that did tended to fare better in the long run.
- 24.
Though the agency began operations in 1989, it took a while longer to get the charter through all of the bureaucratic gates. The Canadian Space Agency Act received royal assent on May 10, 1990, and came into force on December 14, 1990.
- 25.
The UARS was deployed by space shuttle Discovery on September 15, 1991 during mission STS-48.
- 26.
Lydia Dotto, The Astronauts: Canada’s Voyageurs in Space. Toronto: Stoddard Publishing Company, 1993, p.54.
- 27.
Ibid., p.52.
- 28.
Ibid., p.73.
- 29.
NASA. News release 92-211 dated December 27, 1991. Space Shuttle Mission STS-42 Press Kit (January 1992), 5.
- 30.
Ibid., p.28.
- 31.
Ibid., pp.30–31.
- 32.
Op. cit., Dotto,The Astronauts,7p.7.
- 33.
Roberta Bondar, Touching the Earth. Toronto: Key Porter Books, 1994.
- 34.
Op. cit., Dotto, The Astronauts, pp.98–99; see also Canadian Space Agency, Biography of Roberta Lynn Bondar, accessed online on Marc 30,h 2016 at URL http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/astronauts/biobondar.asp
- 35.
Ibid., p.124.
- 36.
Ibid.
- 37.
NASA, Space Mission STS-52 Press Kit. October 1992, pp.24–25.
- 38.
Op. Cit., Dotto, The Astronauts, pp.129–135.
- 39.
Ibid., p.140.
- 40.
The Galileo Global Navigation Satellite System was subsequently initially led using a combined concept of the three main contributors – Germany, France, and Italy. As of 2016 its projected constellation of 30 satellites are still being deployed, 12 of which are currently operational.
- 41.
Op. cit., Dotto, The Astronauts, p.12.
- 42.
Ibid., p.30.
- 43.
Ibid., pp.100–101.
- 44.
Roberta Bondar later disputed her lack of availability to be considered for mission specialist training, and also suggested that, despite the reasons given for its decision, the agency had shown poor judgment in excluding the scientist astronauts from their choices.
- 45.
Op. cit., Dotto, The Astronauts, p.120.
- 46.
CCRS, Satellites and Sovereignty: Report of the Interdepartmental Task Force on Surveillance Satellites. Ottawa: Minister of Supply and Services, August 1977.
- 47.
E.J. Langham. ‘RADARSAT – Canada’s Program for Operational Remote Sensing’, Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, 8:1, July 1982, 29.
- 48.
Ibid., p.30. Another result of this initiative was Canada’s success in joining the European Space Agency (ESA) as an associate member in January 1979. At that time, the ESA was conducting its own studies of space-based SAR technologies, and Canada looked to learn as much as possible for its new international partners.
- 49.
Some have posited that SEASAT’s failure was in fact deliberately orchestrated by the U.S. government as a result of its unintended ability to detect the wakes of submerged military vessels. See Pat Norris, Spies in the Sky: Surveillance Satellites in War and Peace. Chichester: Praxis, 2008; pp.57–89.
- 50.
CCRS, SURSAT Final Report: Executive Summary. Ottawa: Department of Energy, Mines, and Resources, dated September 1980.
- 51.
EMR, RADARSAT Mission Requirements Document. RADARSAT Project Office Report No. 82-7. Ottawa: Government of Canada, February 1982.
- 52.
Op cit., Langham, ‘RADARSAT’, pp.35–36.
- 53.
MOSST, Interim Space Plan 1985–1986. Ottawa: MOSST, 1985, P.5.
- 54.
M.E. McGuire, The RADARSAT-1 Story: A Canadian Satellite. Ottawa: ME Management Strategies, 2014, p.7.
- 55.
Earth Observation Resources Portal Directory. ‘RADARSAT-1’. Accessed online on March 31, 2016 at https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/r/radarsat-1
- 56.
Op. cit., M.E. McGuire, The RADARSAT-1 Story,p.20.
- 57.
Ibid., pp.120–121.
- 58.
David M. Harland, The MIR Space Station: A Precursor to Space Colonization. Chichester: Wiley Praxis, 1997, pp.219-241; see also David M. Harland and John E. Catchpole, Creating the International Space Station. Chichester: Springer-Praxis, 2002, pp.177–188.
- 59.
NASA, Space Shuttle Mission STS-74 / Shuttle-Mir Mission – 2 Press Kit, November 1995, pp.24–25.
- 60.
Lydia Dotto,. ‘STS-74: A Canadian Visits Mir’. N.d. 3-5. Accessed online on January 30, 2001 at http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/spacenet/canastroprogram/sts-74/default.htm
- 61.
Canadian Astronaut Office. STS-74 Mission Manoeuvres. Accessed online on December 21 2000 at www.space.gc.ca/csa_sectors/human_presence/en/canastronauts/astro/sts74/emanoe.htm
- 62.
Lydia Dotto, ‘STS-74: A Canadian Visits Mir’, p.6.
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Godefroy, A.B. (2017). Maple Leaf in Orbit: Institutionalizing the Canadian Space Program, 1984–1995. In: The Canadian Space Program. Springer Praxis Books(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40105-8_5
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