Roberta Bondar reflects on being first Canadian woman in space

In 1992 Roberta Bondar became the first Canadian Woman in Space.

“If you ask me for one thing I remember from the flight, it’s seeing the edge of the Earth and seeing the reality of Earth as a planet,” says the 76-year-old Roberta Bondar, who will mark the weekend anniversary with an online celebration. Bondar’s 1992 mission aboard the shuttle Discovery took eight days. She had spent the previous eight years of her life preparing for the flight and the on-board research she led on the affect of low gravity on life. For years after, she worked in space medicine and in academia, spending two terms as chancellor of Trent University in Peterborough, Ont. After 30 years, she’s still only one of two Canadian women to have flown in space. “Even in days when people are thinking about diversity, it’s really ridiculous,” she says. “It’s still not diverse.”

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