Canada In Space
Canada has a rich history in space exploration. From 1839 when Sir Edward Sabine established the first magnetic observatory at the University of Toronto to study the northern lights; to producing the landing gear used on the Eagle for the first landing on the moon in 1969; to the development of the Canadarm which was used on the Space Shuttle orbiters to deploy, manoeuvre and capture payloads; and, in looking forward to a Canadian rover landing on the moon within the next five years.
Dave Williams
Dave Williams was born in 1954 in Saskatoon Saskatchewan.
He took his training as a medical doctor specializing in emergency medicine. He was selected by the Canadian Space Agency in 1992 and after completing basic training, was appointed manager of the Missions and Space Medicine Group within the astronaut program. In 1994, he participated in a 7—day space mission simulation.
In 1998 he served as Director of the Space and Life Sciences directorate with responsibility for research in both physical and biomedical spaces sciences at the Johnson Space Center. With this appointment, he became the first non-American to hold a senior management position with NASA.
In 2007 Williams was assigned to the crew of STS-118 on the International Space station where he completed 3 spacewalks and set two new records. He is the Canadian with the most spacewalks.
After leaving the Canadian Space Agency, Williams became the new president and CEO of Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket Ontario.