We will meet to discuss the following book:
A Most Extraordinary Ride: Space, Politics, and the Pursuit of a Canadian Dream
On October 5th, 1984, Marc Garneau made history. Blasting off from the Kennedy Space Center aboard the U.S. Space Shuttle and reaching a speed of 28,000 km/hour, he became the first Canadian to fly to outer space. That monumental achievement, now etched in Canadian history as one of our country’s proudest moments, inspired a nation and ushered in a new era of space exploration for Canada. Twenty-four years later, Garneau made history yet again, becoming the first astronaut to be elected as a Member of Parliament.
In between those two milestones in Garneau’s unprecedented career, he was the first Canadian, and the first non-American, to serve as CAPCOM, the voice of Mission Control for the astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle. In the years that followed his historic first voyage to space, Garneau returned to space two more times, becoming the first Canadian to log three trips into orbit, and led the Canadian Space Agency through its most dynamic years.
In A Most Extraordinary Space, Politics, and the Pursuit of a Canadian Dream, Garneau chronicles his once-improbable ascent from a mischievous teenager and rebellious naval midshipman to a decorated astronaut and statesman who represented Canada on the world stage – both on and off the planet. With candour and humour, Garneau describes the highs and lows of his life and career, including the awe he experienced first seeing the earth from space, the tragic loss of his first wife to mental illness and suicide, sailing across the Atlantic and back in a sailboat called "the Pickle," and witnessing the tragedy of the doomed shuttle Challenger.