Marc Garneau
Joseph Jean-Pierre Marc Garneau was a Canadian naval officer, engineer, astronaut, space-agency leader, and politician. Selected in Canada's first astronaut group in 1983, he became the first Canadian in space.
- Born
- February 23, 1949
- Died
- June 4, 2025
- Birthplace
- Quebec City, Capitale-Nationale,Canada
Flights
3
Spacewalks
0
EVA time
N/A
In space
29 days, 2 hours, 1 minute
Bio
Garneau trained as an engineer and served in the Canadian Armed Forces before his astronaut selection. His first flight was STS-41-G in 1984 aboard Challenger, where he flew as a on a mission that also carried Sally Ride and Kathryn Sullivan.
He later flew STS-77 in 1996 and STS-97 in 2000. Those missions moved him from Canada's first shuttle participant to a veteran involved in technology payloads and International assembly.
Garneau became president of the Canadian Space Agency in 2001 and later entered Canadian federal politics. He served as a Member of Parliament, Minister of Transport, and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
His career is one of the broadest in Canadian space history: naval officer, first national astronaut, shuttle mission specialist, space-agency president, cabinet minister, and public advocate for science and exploration.