A Canadian space pioneer visits North Bay

A Canadian hero Dr. Roberta Bondar was in North Bay on Wednesday.

This year marks 25 years since she became the first Canadian woman to go into space on board the shuttle Discovery.

She says back in 1992 she appreciated how big a moment that was in Canada’s history.

“First of all because I was the only Canadian woman, but also because I was the world’s first neurologist and we were doing a whole whack of human physiology experiments that depended on that knowledge, and also being the first woman on the space shuttle that was not an American, there were so many firsts,” she says.

After a talk about Mars and the environment, as seen from space, she answered questions from the students.

The event also marked the local launch of the Ontario 150 Bondar Challenge.

It’s a contest that asks people to take photographs of an aspect of nature they admire and hope will still exist in the community 150 years from now.

Bondar says her interest in photography was piqued at an early age when living in Sault Ste Marie, pointing out her dad and uncle had a great interest in photography.

“We’d have these cameras all around and my Dad was way ahead of his time, he was doing two shots with us when we were little girls, remarkable framing,” she says.

For more information on the contest go to robertabondarfoundation.org