Roberta Lynn Bondar (1945 - )

• first Canadian woman astronaut in space.
• born Dec. 4, 1945 in Sault St. Marie, Ontario
• neurobiologist, astronaut
• as a youngster Bondar would gaze up at the clear night skies of Northern Ontario and pretend to be Flash Gordon on an asteroid in search of Ming the Merciless
• she made models of rockets, collected posters and badges from NASA and played with crystal radio sets, hoping to make first contact with alien beings
• took physics and mathematics courses in high school and university
• got a private pilot's license and received university degrees in zoology and biology.
• became a doctor specializing in neurology
• joined the Canadian Space Program and trained in the USA for three full years to do science in space
• in January, 1992, she became the first Canadian woman in space when she flew on the space shuttle Discovery as a payload specialist on the first International Microgravity Laboratory Mission.
• more information from NASA

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