In this biography
Quick facts
- Born
- 4 December 1945
- Birthplace
- Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
- Country
- Canada
- Nationality
- Not independently established
- Known for
- First Canadian woman in space
- Flight role
- STS-42 payload specialist
Why this life matters
Her training crossed medicine and experimental science. Her career shows how research, flight operations and public interpretation can require different forms of expertise.
Timeline
Key moments
Medical qualification
Earns her MD at McMaster.
Astronaut selection
Selected.
Discovery mission
STS-42, 22โ30 January.
Several kinds of scientific training
Bondar studied zoology and agriculture at Guelph, experimental pathology at Western, and neurobiology at Toronto before earning her medical degree at McMaster in 1977. The January 1992 press kit describes a neurologist already engaged in clinical and basic research, including work on cerebral blood flow and subjects in short periods of microgravity aboard NASAโs KC-135 aircraft.
Sources for this section: [1]
Selection, training and flight
She was selected for the Canadian astronaut programme in 1983 and trained for the first International Microgravity Laboratory mission.
Discovery launched on 22 January 1992 and landed on 30 January. Bondar served as a payload specialist with an international crew. The mission used Spacelab for research on adaptation to low gravity and on other life forms. The investigations involved the broader crew and scientific teams.
Research continued after the mission
The Canadian Space Agency dates her leadership of an international postflight research team to 1993โ1998. Its account describes work on the effects of microgravity on returning astronauts, across several research appointments. She also chaired a Health Canada scientific advisory panel in 1997โ2000. The flight was one phase within a longer scientific and institutional career.
Sources for this section: [2]
Photography and environmental interpretation
Bondar trained in professional nature photography and developed national-park photography and travelling exhibitions. The agency records her 2024 book Space for Birds, bringing photography and migratory-bird research into public view.
Sources for this section: [2]
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions about Roberta Bondar
- Was the press kit a record of completed experiments?
- It was a preflight document. A completed mission and its scientific results require later records.
Keep exploring
Lives connected to this story
- David Suzuki
Compare public communication after a scientific career.
Sources and further reading
Explore the evidence
These references support the biography and offer further reading. Official records, first-person accounts and independent reporting provide different perspectives; image records document attribution and licensing.
- 1. NASAPress kit
Acquired the original press kit and read PDF 3 and 42. No complete mission report, film, photography book or experiment dataset was inspected.
- 2. Canadian Space AgencyBondar biography
CSA prints 31 January; NASA gives 30 January, retained here. Awards and named-school lists were not adopted.
- 3. NASASTS-42: mission facts and highlights