According to his web site Marc Garneau was born in
Quebec City in February of 1949. He has been married to Pamela Soame for 16
years. Together they have two children, and have been residents of Westmount
since 2001, where they enjoy an active life in the community. Marc also has
two twins from a first marriage.
Marc was the President of the McGill Chamber Orchestra for four years and remains
it's Honourary President. He enjoys walking and cycling around Montreal to keep fit.
He also has sailed across the Atlantic twice, in 1969 and 1970 - on a 59-foot yawl
with twelve other crewmen!
EDUCATION
Marc's education took place in Quebec, Ontario and
England. He attended primary and secondary schools in Quebec City and Saint-Jean.
He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from the Royal Military College
of Kingston in 1970, and in 1973 received a Doctorate in Electrical Engineering from
the Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, England. From 1982 to 1983,
he attended the Canadian Forces Command and Staff College of Toronto.
Out
of this world career: Representing Canada in Space
CAREER
Military
Experience
Marc Garneau began his service to Canada as a Navy
combat systems engineer on HMCS Algonquin from1974 to 1976. He was promoted
to Commander in 1982 while at Staff College and was transferred to Ottawa in 1983.
In January 1986, he was promoted to Naval Captain and retired from the Navy in 1989.
A
Career in Space
Marc was one of six Canadian astronauts selected
out of over four thousand candidates in December 1983. He was seconded to the Canadian
Astronaut Program from the Department of National Defence in February 1984 to begin
astronaut training. Marc made history by becoming the first Canadian Astronaut to
fly in space as a payload specialist on Shuttle Mission 41-G, October 5-13, 1984.
In 1989 Marc was named Deputy Director of the Canadian Astronaut Program, providing
technical and program support in the preparation of experiments to fly during future
Canadian missions.
Marc has had such a profound influence on fans of space discovery that he even had
a spaceship named after him, the USS Garneau, in the popular Star Trek series of novels:
Millenium: The Fall of Terok Nor.
NASA
Marc reported to the Johnson
Space Center in August 1992. He completed a one-year training program until he became
qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist. He initially worked on technical
issues for the Astronaut Office Robotics Integration Team, and subsequently served
as Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM) in Mission Control during Shuttle flights. With three
space flights (STS-41G in 1984, STS-77 in 1996 and STS-97 in 2000), Marc Garneau has
logged over 677 hours in space.
Canadian
Space Agency
In February 2001, Marc Garneau was appointed Executive
Vice President of the Canadian Space Agency. He was subsequently appointed President
of the same Agency on November 22, 2001 and left in 2005 to pursue a career in politics
