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Steeves selected as Canadian astronaut candidate
By Camilla Gregersen
Steeves learning to control the Canada Arm 2. PHOTO: Courtesy Canadian Space Agency
Dr. Geoffrey Steeves, a faculty member in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, is one of 16 candidates vying for two spots as Canada’s newest astronauts. They were selected from among 5,351 applicants.
When Steeves was a child, his grandparents bought him all sorts of books. “I was always drawn to the ones about space exploration,” he says. He even remembers doing a school project on the Voyager spacecraft.
In 1992, when Steeves was an undergrad, the Canadian Space Agency put a call out for recruits. This captured his imagination and, ever since, he’s been building his skills for the next opportunity to apply. He continued his post-secondary education, eventually receiving a PhD from the University of Alberta in 2001. He also began scuba diving, frequently diving at Ogden Point and Race Rocks. He started flying at the Victoria Flying Club in 2005, and received his commercial pilot’s license and multi-engine instrument rating in 2008.
Final candidates for Canadian astronauts are mostly scientists, pilots, and medical doctors—and many are more than one of these. The space agency looks for individuals showing dedication and having broad interests, because they need the ability to react instantly to any situation, then turn around and perform methodical research.
This time around the Canada Space Agency is looking for astronauts to go to the International Space Station, which is nearly completed. The most appealing part about this opportunity for Steeves is the chance to do scientific experiments in entirely different setting, collaborating with scientists from around the world.
It has been a long process for Steeves. The candidates submitted written applications in May and June 2008, and have supplemented them with more information when requested. In the fall, interviews were conducted at the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics and medical tests were given at CFB Esquimalt.
This spring Steeves and the other candidates had a week in Montréal, where they learned to use the Canada Arm 2 robotic arm and had a series of IQ tests. They also went though challenges used by the military for air crew selection when testing fighter pilots. They have been tested on their swimming and diving abilities, including an exercise that requires them to swim to the bottom of a pool and fit as many pieces into a block as possible. One test had them exiting a helicopter that was under water, and they were graded not on whether they exited successfully but on whether they followed the instructions precisely.
Testing continued in Halifax, with a day-long lesson in damage control, including fighting fires, floods and hazardous materials.
After that they had to perform their newly learned skills in a simulator for hours on end. “You know it’s a simulation,” explains Steeves, “but once the freezing cold water hits, your body still reacts as if it’s in danger.”
The following week was taken up with medical testing about which Steeves says, “you have no control over whether or not you pass.”
The competition is nearly over and the Canada Space Agency will be announcing the two final choices for the positions in May.
Further information: www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/astronauts/
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