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Marc Garneau

MARC GARNEAU (1949 - 2025)

PROFILE 

 

 

Full Name

Joseph Jean-Pierre Marc GARNEAU

Rank

Civilian (Captain, Canadian Navy, retired); PhD Electrical Engineering

Born

23 February 1949 in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada (Canadian)

Died

4 June 2025 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, aged 76

Education

1970: BS degree in Engineering Physics from the Royal Military College, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

 

1973: PhD in Electrical Engineering from Imperial College, London, UK.

Career Highlights

1973 - 1983: Served in the Canadian Navy; (1974-76) Combat Systems Engineer, HMCS Algonquin; (1976-77) Instructor, naval weapons systems, Canadian Forces Fleet School; (1977-80) Project Engineer, naval weapons systems; (1981-82) assigned to the Naval Engineering Unit, Halifax, Nova Scotia; (1982-83) student, Canadian Forces Command and Staff College; (1983) working on naval communications and electronic warfare equipment and systems

 

Promoted to Captain in 1986, he retired from the Canadian Navy in 1989

 

 

ASTRONAUT ASSIGNMENTS

1983:

(5 Dec) Selected as one of the first six Canadian astronauts

1984:

(Feb) Seconded to the Canadian astronaut programme from the Department of National Defence; (14 Mar) assigned to STS-51A as a Payload Specialist (PS); Shuttle mission training; (Jun) reassigned as PS from 51A to STS-41G; Shuttle mission training; (5-13 Oct) flew as PS2, STS-41G (197 hrs 24 min); first Canadian in space; Canadian Astronaut Office (CAO) technical assignments

1985:

CAO technical assignments

1986:

CAO technical assignments; working on Space Vision System and Remote Manipulator System (RMS)

1987-88:

CAO technical assignments

1989:

CAO technical assignments; named Deputy Director of the Canadian Astronaut Programme

1990-91:

Deputy Director, Canadian Astronaut Programme

1992:

Deputy Director, Canadian Astronaut Programme (until Jul); (Jul) selected for NASA Mission Specialist (MS) Astronaut Candidate (Ascan) training; (Aug) began a 1-year NASA MS Ascan training programme; NASA Ascan training

1993:

NASA Ascan training; (3 Aug) graduated; qualified for flight assignment as an MS; initial technical assignment was for the Astronaut Office Robotics Integration Team; mission support assignment: STS-51

1994:

Mission support assignments: STS-59, 65, 66

1995:

Mission support assignments: STS-63, 67, 70, 69, 73; (13 Jun) named as MS4 STS-77 (SPARTAN, IAE); Shuttle mission training

1996:

Shuttle mission training; (19-29 May) flew as MS4 STS-77 (240 hrs 40 min); mission support assignments: STS-80

1997:

Mission support assignments: STS-82, 83, 94, 86, 85, 87

1998:

Mission support assignments: STS-89, 91, 88; (4 Aug) named as MS2/FE (Flight Engineer) STS-97 (ISS-04-4A); Shuttle mission training

1999:

Shuttle mission training; mission support assignments: STS-93

2000:

Shuttle mission training; (30 Nov-11 Dec) flew as MS2/FE STS-97 (259 hrs 58 min)

2001:

(1 Feb) Appointed Executive Vice President of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and retired from active astronaut status

 

 

POST-ASTRONAUT EXPERIENCE

2001:

(1 Feb - Nov) Executive Vice President, CSA; (22 Nov) 4th President, CSA, replacing William 'Mac' Evans

2001-05:

4th President, CSA; (28 Nov 2005) resigned from CSA, succeeded by Laurier J. Boisvert

2006-08:

Pursued a political career for the Liberal Party

2008-23:

(14 Oct 2008) Elected to the Canadian Parliament; in office for 15 years

2008-15:

Member of the 40th and 41st Parliaments

2015-21:

(4 Nov 2015) Appointed Minister of Transport, 42nd Parliament

2021:

(12 Jan) Appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, 43rd Parliament, until 26 Oct when he left the Cabinet

2021-23:

Serving Member of Parliament

2023:

(8 Mar) Resigned his seat and retired from politics

Marc GARNEAU Space Flight Missions

Mission

Vehicle

Crew

Position

Dates

(DD/MM/YY)

Duration

DD:HH:MM:SS

Orbits

EVAs

STS-41G

Challenger

Payload Specialist

05/10/84 - 13/10/84

08:05:23:33

133

0

STS-77

Endeavour

Mission Specialist

19/05/96 - 29/05/96

10:00:40:16

161

0

STS-97

Endeavour

Mission Specialist

30/11/00 - 11/12/00

10:19:58:20

170

0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Missions Flown

3

Total Flight Time

29:02:02:09

464

0
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This is Version 3 of this profile.
Copyright © Astro Info Service Ltd, 2001, 2004, 2025.

All images courtesy of NASA unless otherwise stated.
Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau (1949-2025)
Marc Garneau, the first Canadian astronaut in space.

Image courtesy of spacefacts.de
An 'upside down' Marc Garneau and NASA astronaut David Leestma aboard STS-41G
Garneau (left) and NASA astronaut David Leestma aboard STS-41G in 1984.
Marc Garneau observing proceedings in a furnace aboard STS-77 in 1996
Garneau checking the Commercial Float Zone Furnace in the Spacelab Module aboard STS-77 in 1996.
The STS-97 crew about to head to the launch pad for some final pre-launch testing for STS-97 in 2000
The crew in their orange launch suits about to head to the launch pad for the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT) for STS-97 in 2000.
(back row l-r) MS Joe Tanner and Garneau
(front row l-r) MS Carlos Noriega, PLT Mike Bloomfield and CDR Brent Jett.