Canadarm and Collaboration: How Canada's Astronauts and Space Robots Explore New Worlds

by Elizabeth Howell, Elizabeth Howell

With interviews from Chris Hadfield and Marc Garneau, the tale of Canada’s involvement in international space exploration from the 1960s to the present day  Canada is a small but mighty power in space exploration. After providing the Canadarm robotic arm for the space shuttle in 1981, Canada received an invitation to start an astronaut program ― a program that quickly let its people accumulate skill and prestige. Canadian astronauts have since commanded the International Space Station, flown as co-pilots on spacecraft, and even held senior roles within NASA. This book traces how Canada grew from small beginnings into a major player in international space policy. You will hear about Canada’s space program from the words of its astronauts, from Canadian celebrity Chris Hadfield to Liberal cabinet minister Marc Garneau to Governor General Julie Payette. You will experience the excitement and challenges of reporting on a rocket launch in Kazakhstan, as Canada sent its latest astronaut to space in preparation for possible moon missions in the 2020s. And you will learn from the people who work behind the scenes on Canadian space technology and space policy about why we are doing this ― and what we plan to do next.

Genres: Space, Science, Nonfiction, History

240 pages, Paperback

Published October 20, 2020

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[Sharen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a space nerd and love reading books about the space program, I was even one of the 4000 who applied in 1983 for Canada's first call for potential astronauts. So I was very excited to read a book focused on all that Canada has contributed to NASA directly and the International Space Station. Canada is often an after thought when talking about space but our involvement was there from the beginning with Canadian scientists helping NASA with initial human space flight after the cancellation of the Avro Arrow program.

Author Elizabeth Howell does a good job of telling the story of our history without drowning us in 'science' yet cites numerous places one can dig deeper if desired. It was interesting to see the politics of the CSA through the years and get a glimpse into Canadian astronauts and all they did to get a chance to go into space.

'Don't let go Canada!' Science and policy are intertwined and government needs to support the CSA and science in general, not just for going to space but to benefit all Canadians with the discoveries and the tech industry that supports it..

Narrator Tracey Hoyt has a smooth delivery and speaking style that suits the scientific subject matter. As this is a science book there are a lot of references and citations and I liked how the file organization had each chapter as a separate section so citations were at the end of each file allowing you to fast forward through all the citation readings without worrying about missing any of the story narration.

Thank you to ECW Press Audio for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Daniel Macgregor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very enjoyable read. It is not focused on high-concept science, but very much focused on the personal lives of those involved in the Canadian space industry, and the politics behind the industry. It is a short read for anyone interested in getting introduced to Canada in space.

[Arindam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspiring read about Canadian astronauts, technologies in space,plans and policies, with a bit of history and politics.

[Elizabeth • LizziePageReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a love letter to the Canadian space program. I don’t just mean the CSA, although of course that’s included. C&C celebrates all Canadians who’ve contributed to space exploration, science, and technology over the past 60 years, from the exodus of Avro Arrow employees in the early 1960s, to Canadarm and Marc Garneau’s selection, to Canadarm2 and Chris Hadfield’s twitter account, all the way to the proposed Canadarm3 and the Gateway project. Before I read this book, I had no idea how deeply Canada has contributed to NASA and that it was the science that got their foot in the door - or on the rocket, so to speak.

I most enjoyed reading about the astronauts and other key players. So many of the pioneers of space exploration in Canada fly under the radar of public acknowledgement. There are a few folks in particular that I’m hoping to research more about to keep learning about their incredible contributions. While the author focuses on a variety of players, astronaut or otherwise, my favorite parts were about the astronauts (sorry but true!). I loved her decision to focus less on their time in space and more about their earth-bound journeys to arrive in space. how they became interested in space, their winding paths to astronaut selection, and the intensive training and support work they performed on the ground outside their flights.

The only thing I didn’t like about this book is the deep dive into Canadian politics. This book goes into detail about the political climate in each era of space flight, and how the climate impacted funding and by extension scientific experimentation and space exploration activity. I’m not from Canada and am woefully ignorant of Canadian history and politics, so a lot of this went straight over my head. I know enough about space and the general history of how geopolitics have impacted space science and exploration over the past 60 years to keep up the general thread, but overall I found the political details too dense. I fully admit this is a personal shortcoming and no fault of the authors :)

While most of the book takes place on earth, the author does take us up to the ISS on occasion. One chapter is actually a “tour” of the ISS itself. In it, the author dictates what you’d see, which module you’d be in, and what it would be used for, if you started at a certain place and worked your way through the station. So if I start in the Columbus module and went to the hatch and went right, I’d see XYZ Module/node. If I went up (remember there are 6 directions rather than 4 because zero G!), I’d see ABC. It‘s actually the best “tour” of the station I’ve read in any book on the subject, comparable to watching an actual video of the ISS. For the first time, I felt like I was there.

While I really enjoyed reading this book, I’m not sure a full read of the text is right for everyone. The casual US space enthusiast would probably be lost in the Canadian politics and technical details of the Canadarm (and successor) systems. For an avid space junkie, this could be a good read if you’re prepared for the politics. For casual Canadian space fans, this book would be super informative and likely make a lot more sense than for a US audience.

That said, there is definitely something for everyone in this book. There’s politics for the policy folks, Canadian history for the history buffs, and space exploration for the space junkies. On top of that, the author is so candid and down to earth that I felt like I had a great tour guide leading me through all of the above. I’d encourage anyone even remotely interested in the description to check it out and learn a little something from our friends up north!

Thank you to the publisher ECW for the advanced review copy.

[Elisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love books about space exploration. One of my favorites is Chris Hadfield’s memoir, mentioned by Elizabeth Howell’s excellent account of the space race in Canada. Thanks to Hadfield, I knew about the important contribution of Canadians in the field, but Howell really sets is in context. For instance, there was never a Cold War with the USSR, but the alliance with NASA forced the CSA to walk a fine line when collaborating with the Soviets. There were also different political challenges that I had never heard of, knowing little about Canada’s history. Casual readers may be surprised by the significance of Canada’s role in the International Space Station and other endeavors. Tracey Hoyt’s voice is perfect to narrate this audiobook, since she sounds like the journalist Howell is. The one thing that I didn’t like about the audio version versus the printed one, is that there are too many footnotes, which are read aloud and are hard to follow. Otherwise, this is a fascinating look at space, from a different angle.
I chose to listen to this audiobook and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/ECW Press Audio!