by Neil Carleton
There have been many tributes over the past week to Canada’s first astronaut in space. Dr. Marc Garneau … PhD in electrical engineering … was a national hero who inspired generations. His rich legacy includes a classroom connection many years ago at R. Tait McKenzie Public School in Almonte.
During Dr. Garneau’s last space flight, in December 2000, when space shuttle Endeavor was docked at the International Space Station, my grade 6 students in Room 22 listened on shortwave to the voice communications of the astronauts in orbit. It was exciting to hear Marc Garneau speaking on the shuttle with Mission Control. We also heard the American and Russian astronauts talking about their work on the space station’s solar panels.
Almonte Gazette 13 December 2000
Globe and Mail 9 December 2000
Teams of students used portable receivers with earphones to monitor the mission’s progress. There was a tabletop receiver too so the whole class could follow along over several days. This listening adventure was part of our grade 6 science studies of space. We were able to hear Dr. Garneau on his last space mission thanks to a special retransmission of shuttle communications by amateur radio from the Goddard Space Flight Center.
In orbit on Endeavor with Dr. Garneau for the 11 days of his last space flight was a large package of tomato seeds that he brought back to Earth for the Tomatosphere Project of Agriculture and Agi-Food Canada. Teachers across the country were invited to apply for this unique research opportunity. Grades 3 to 6 students would compare the germination and growth rates of space-travelled seeds with seeds that stayed on Earth. It was an exciting day in January 2001 when we opened our Tomatosphere kit in Room 22.
Almonte Gazette 24 January 2001
Almonte Gazette 15 June 2001
That spring I obtained my amateur radio qualifications. Each week in Room 22 my students and I used amateur radio to make connections across the curriculum … from math and language to science and social studies. Our class-to-class adventures ranged from on-air contacts with schools around the world to the postal exchange of student projects.
Well before sunrise on November 23 in 2001, before a community audience that filled the gym, 9 students from kindergarten to grade 8 had their amateur radio questions about space answered by the Commander of the International Space Station as the 3rd expedition crew passed high overhead in orbit. Video at this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0zMn16z8to
International Space Station during Expedition 3
9 students spoke by amateur radio with the Commander of the International Space Station
This unique event was possible thanks to volunteers of the Almonte Amateur Radio Club. Each participating Club member received a certificate of recognition, as an honorary member of the Canadian space program, signed by Marc Garneau, President of the Canadian Space Agency.
Volunteers of the Almonte Amateur Radio Club, Almonte Gazette 16 January 2002
Many students, parents and other community residents wrote to the Canadian Space Agency requesting an astronaut visit. On October 1 in 2002, Canadian astronaut Dr. Robert Thirsk … engineer and physician … arrived at our school. During his two presentations for primary and junior classes, about 800 students from Almonte’s three elementary schools heard first-hand what it was like to travel in space.
Almonte Gazette 9 October 2002
Dr. Thirsk was presented with second-generation tomatoes grown in Almonte gardens … descendants of the plants that grew from seeds Marc Garneau brought back from his last mission in space.
During his national radio and TV interviews last week, Dr. Thirsk paid tribute to his mentor as an astronaut’s astronaut and the best of the best. Here in Almonte the legacy of Marc Garneau will be remembered for many years.
Marc Garneau, 1949 – 2025, first Canadian in space
