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Perfect space food

Yellowknife contingent on hand for shuttle launch

Kevin Wilson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Apr 13/01) - You'd think that Jane Leblanc would find watching one of her friends getting strapped to a tube filled with tonnes of explosive fuel a little unnerving.

Far from it. In fact, Leblanc is actually looking forward to watching it up close and personal in Florida next week.

The astronaut & the mission

  • Col. Chris Hadfield: Born in Sarnia, Ont. on Aug. 29, 1959.
  • Joined Canadian Forces in 1978, graduating from Royal Military College in 1982.
  • Top pilot in basic flying training in 1980, and top pilot in basic jet training in 1982-83.
  • Between 1989-92, he served as an exchange officer and test pilot in the U.S.
  • Selected as one of four Canadian astronauts from a field of 5,330 in 1992.
  • In 1995, Hadfield served as a mission specialist on an eight day flight aboard space shuttle Atlantis, docking with the Russian space station Mir. During the mission, Hadfield became the first Canadian to operate the Canadarm in orbit, and was the only Canadian to ever visit Mir.
  • Next week, Hadfield will become the first Canadian to ever leave an orbiting spacecraft, and the first Canadian to float freely in space. He will perform two spacewalks. A third space walk can be added.

    The mission

  • This will be Endeavour's 16th flight.
  • It will launch from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Centre. The launch window is 10 minutes. Estimated mission duration is 12 days.
  • Crew of seven includes four Americans, a Russian and an Italian.
  • On the ground, two Canadian astronauts, Steve Maclean and Bob Thirsk will act as CAPCOMs for the Shuttle and ISS, respectively.

    Keep in touch

    NWT students can keep tabs on the upcoming shuttle mission thanks to a temporary Web site created by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. The Shuttle NWT Web site is located at www.learnnet.nt.ca/sts_100/index.html. It has links to the Canadian Space Agency, NASA, the mission overview and Royal Canadian Air Cadets Web site. Through the site, students can have direct, daily access through e-mail with the five Yellowknife cadets attending the launch. Students are invited to post questions. Next Friday, the cadets in Florida will take part in an Internet video conference with students here in Yellowknife.


    • "I'm not really worried," she said of her friend Chris Hadfield's launch into orbit on the space shuttle Endeavour April 19. "I'm a military wife myself, and you just tend to roll with the punches."

    Hadfield will be flying on shuttle mission STS-100. The flight's goal is to deliver and install the International Space Station's new Canadarm.

    But it's a mission with a distinctly Northern flavour.

    Leblanc has been a friend of Hadfield's for about five years now, since he visited the Northwest Territories in 1997. She is the wife of former Canadian Forces Northern Area commander Col. Pierre Leblanc.

    The people of the North made such a strong impression on Hadfield, that he decided that he wanted to take a bit of the territories into orbit with him.

    "He was very impressed by the way people in the NWT were in harmony with the land," said Leblanc.

    At the time, Hadfield decided he would take caribou, muskox, and arctic char jerky made by Kitikmeot Foods in Cambridge Bay into space with him as a gift for his crewmates.

    "All of them passed NASA's tests," for food going into space, Leblanc said. However, the char jerky had oil in it that could cause difficulties in the weightless space environment.

    In a media release, Hadfield said the jerky is "lightweight and long lasting ... a perfect food source for space travel."

    Leblanc arranged to get the number of jerky pieces that were required.

    "This is his personal gift to the crew and the astronauts on the space station," said Leblanc.

    While the astronauts are going through their preparations, Leblanc will be getting to know Hadfield's friends and family, as well as the friends and families of the other astronauts at a series of socials hosted by NASA.

    "I'm very excited to be going," she said.

    Food isn't the only item from the North to head into space next week.

    Hadfield will carry a crest from the Yellowknife Air Cadets Corps into orbit.

    Five cadets from the corps will be at the Kennedy Space Centre to watch the launch.

    They arrive in Florida April 17. Part of their mission will include communicating with Yellowknife students and taking part in an Internet video conference next Friday.