BIOGRAPHY
Roberta Lynn Bondar was born on Decemeber 4th 1945 in Sault Ste Marie, Canada. Roberta is the child of Mildred and Edward Bondar and is the youngest of two children. Roberta always dreamt about being the first person on the moon and would even teach herself all the different planets when she was a child. She was always fasinated by the world of science and when she was as young as seven years old, she would cunduct experiments in her basement in a laboratory that her dad had made her. Because of her hard work and everything she has accomplished, she had the chance to be the first Canadian woman and second Canadian astronaut to go into space. Roberta was part of the STS-42 mission in 1992. When she got back from space, she had retired from being an astronaut so she can devote her time to do her research.
EDUCATIONAL AND TRAINING BACKGROUND
Bondar has graduated from a High School in Sault Ste. Marie called Sir James Dunn High School. She carries a Bachelor of Science in agriculture and zoology, which she got from the University of Guelph (1968), a Master Of Science in experimental pathology, which was obtained from the University of Western Ontario (1971), a Doctor Philosophy in neuroscience, which she got from the University of Toronto (1974), and lastly a doctor of medicine from McMaster University.
AREA OF EXPERTISE
Bondar has a certificate in skydiving and parachuting. She first studied professional nature photography at the brooks institute of photography in California, but later on in 1984 she began training to become an astronaut. In 1992 she was part of the first international Microgravity Laboratory Mission (IML-1). Bondar has been awarded with a few different honours which include: the order of canada, the order of ontario, the NASA soace medal, introduction into the canadian medical hall of fame and over 22 honorary degrees.
SPACE MISSION EXPERIENCE
Roberta says that her experience of being on the moon has defiantly changed her life and it is not a memory she will ever forget. When she got to the moon, she realized how important the actual floor is on earth because in space you’re just floating and there’s nowhere you can actually walk. Space travel has taught Bondar that change is inevitable, change is constant, and change is something we have to understand is a very positive force. Bondar was on the space shuttle discovery as a payload specialist and conducted a very difficult set of microgravity experiments.
Space Patch
Roberta Bondar was part of the STS-42 space patch in 1992. There were seven members who left to space on this mission: Commander Ronald J. Grabe, Pilot Stephen S. Oswald, Mission Specialists Norman E. Thagard, David C. Hilmers, William F. Readdy and Payload Specialists Roberta L. Bondar and Ulf D. Merbold. This group was dispatched to space to research the human nervous system on how they adapt to low gravity and the effects of microgravity on other life forms.
Space Program Experience
"This is a memory i will never forget". This program has helped Roberta learn the basics of space and everything you need to know going into it, for example since there is no gravity in space, so in this program, they would make the astronauts in training, go under water to get a feel of how space would be because there is no gravity under water. Over all this was just a great experience for Roberta.