Happy Canada Day! Astronaut Stephen Robinson is seen here anchored to the end of Canadarm2 on the International Space Station.
For nearly as long as the agency has been active, NASA’s various activities on the ground, in low-Earth orbit, and beyond, have been rooted in well-built relationships with other nations around the world who share their drive for knowledge and purpose beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
While competition drove early activities, we’ve witness an increasing shift towards a more collaborative and shared presence in space with the construction of space station Mir and the International Space Station (ISS). One of NASA’s 22 partners actively part of the International Space Station program has been their neighbor to the north, the Canadian Space Agency.
A product of the Canadian Space Agency Act in 1990, the Canadian Space Agency has been a dynamic partner that has contributed both astronauts, including Col. Chris Hadfield, and technological contributions like Canadarm on the Space Shuttle, and Canadarm 2 along with the rest of the Mobile Servicing Unit aboard the International Space Station.
Future projects for the Canadian Space Agency include but are not limited to the RADARSAT Constellation Mission, a three-spacecraft fleet of Earth observation satellites scheduled for a 2018 launch, and the Polar Communication and Weather Mission, which involves the planned launch of two satellites in polar orbit to provide improved weather and communications capabilities in the high Arctic.
Canada has been a vital member of the ISS program throughout the past ten years and continues to play a major role in space exploration as a central partner of NASA.
From all of us at Penny4NASA – Happy Canada Day!
Read more about the Canadian Space Agency:
http://goo.gl/ri1Dq9
http://goo.gl/udf1Tl
http://goo.gl/uoD253Read more about the RADARSAT Constellation Mission:
http://goo.gl/wuCRead more about the Polar Communication and Weather Mission:
http://goo.gl/jrTr2AShow your support by writing to Congress to let them know you support doubling funding for NASA: http://www.penny4nasa.org/take-action/
Happy Canada Day!
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