Canada’s next astronaut astrophysicist, physician
OTTAWA — Quebec engineer and doctor David Saint-Jacques says he’s not entirely sure why he was chosen to become the next Canadian to work aboard the International Space Station — but he’ll gladly accept the mission.
“They had to pick one of us,” Saint-Jacques said when asked why he believed he was chosen over his co-astronaut-in-training, Jeremy Hansen.
“I guess the important [thing] is that there are two space flights coming up for Canada. This is the first one, and I’m looking forward for [Hansen] getting the next shot.”
Saint-Jacques, 46, is scheduled to travel to space aboard the Russian Soyuz rocket for a sixmonth mission in November 2018.
“I promise to live up to your expectations,” Saint-Jacques told a group of schoolchildren gathered Monday at an Ottawa museum, where Minister of Science and Innovation Navdeep Bains announced the assignment.
Training for Saint-Jacques, who is a medical, engineering and astrophysics specialist, begins this summer in Canada, Russia, Japan and the United States.
Saint-Jacques said he was inspired to be an astronaut by the many Canadians who flew out of Earth’s atmosphere before him.
“I stand on the shoulders of giants,” he said. “The astronauts who have preceded me, they were my childhood inspiration, my colleagues and my mentors.”
He’ll become the ninth Canadian to travel to space, six of whom worked at the International Space Station.