Robert Thirsk

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Robert Brent "Bob" Thirsk (born August 17, 1953) is a Canadian engineer and scientist as well as a former Canadian Space Agency explorer and a former Canadian Space Agency astronaut.

He holds the Canadian record for the longest time in space (204 days 18 hours).

In 2013, he became an Officer of the Order of Canada (OC) and was appointed to the Order of British Columbia (OBC) in 2012.

Life

Thirsk is from New Westminster, British Columbia, and she is married to Brenda Biasutti of Montreal, Quebec. They have three children, Lisane Biasutti Thirsk, Elliot Biasutti Thirsk, and Aidan Biasutti Thirsk. He loves spending time with his family, as well as flying, hockey, squash, and playing the piano.

He is a member of Professional Engineers Ontario, the College of Family Physicians of Canada, the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute, the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, and the International Space University.

In 1976, he received the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists, and Geophysicists of Alberta's Gold Medal, and was the first recipient of the University of Calgary Distinguished Alumni Award (1985). In 1997, he received the Gold Medal of the Professional Engineers of Ontario and was given honorary membership in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia.

Education

Thirsk attended primary and secondary schools in British Columbia, Alberta, and Manitoba, with the exception of Glenayre Elementary School (Port Moody, B.C.). R. T. Alderman Junior High School, Calgary, and graduating from Lord Beaverbrook High School. His post-secondary education began with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Calgary in 1976 and then continued with a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering from MIT in 1978, an M.D. McGill University in 1982, and his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1998 as a Sloan Fellow. While in orbit on July 8, 2009, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Calgary. Koichi Wakata, a fellow ISS crewmember, conducted the convocation cape on Thirsk, which was later removed due to the unit's constant flopping up to his face. Thirsk was the first person to receive a university degree from space during this event. In 2019, Thirsk received an honorary D.Eng. The award was given to Carleton University in recognition of his outstanding career as a Canadian explorer, his numerous contributions to scientific and health research, and his advocacy of science education and lifelong learning.

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CSA career

Thirsk was enrolled in the family medicine residency program at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Montreal when he was chosen by the National Research Council of Canada in December 1983 to join the Canadian astronaut program. In February 1984, he began astronaut training and served as a back-up payload specialist to Marc Garneau on the space shuttle mission STS-41-G, which flew from October 5 to 1984. He has been involved in several parabolic flight experiment campaigns on board NASA's KC-135 aircraft, as well as various projects relating to space medicine, the International Space Station, mission planning, and education with the Canadian Space Agency. He led an international research team looking at the effects of weightlessness on the heart and blood vessels. His team developed and tested an experimental "anti-gravity suit" that may be able to help astronauts cope with the effects of extended spaceflight on the cardiovascular system.

In 1993 and 1994, he served as the Canadian Space Agency's Chief Astronaut. He was crew commander of the CAPSULS mission, a simulation 7-day space mission that required the participation of many international scientists and three other Canadian astronauts in February 1994. Thirsk spent a year in Victoria, British Columbia, from 1994 to 1995. During this year, he improved his clinical skills, space medicine research, and Russian language training.

Thirsk, a payload specialist, flew aboard space shuttle mission STS-78 (the life and microgravity Spacelab mission) on June 20, 1996. During this 17-day flight aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia, he and his six crew members carried out 43 experiments devoted to life and materials science. The majority of these experiments were carried out within the orbiter's payload bay, which was located inside the pressurized Spacelab laboratory module. Changes in plants, animals, and humans under spaceflight conditions were tested in life science experiments. Protein crystallization, fluid dynamics, and high-temperature solidification of multi-phase materials in microgravity were investigated during materials science experiments.

Thirsk wrote two columns for the Calgary Sun newspaper while on STS-78. This was the first time an explorer wrote and submitted a story to a newspaper and had it published, but the explorer was still on orbit.

Thirsk was sent by the Canadian Space Agency in 1998 to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston to pursue mission specialist training. Advanced training in both shuttle and space station design, EVA (spacewalking), robotics, and Russian language are all included in this training program. Dr. Thirsk served as a CapCom (capsule communicator) for the International Space Station (ISS) program within the NASA Astronaut Office. Capcoms is involved in real and simulated space missions as a link between Mission Control's ground team and the astronauts in orbit. Capcoms can interact directly with the space station crews and help with technical preparations for the mission and last-minute glitchshooting.

Thirsk was the commander of the NEEMO 7 mission aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory in October 2004, living and working submerged for ten days. Thirsk replaced fellow CSA astronaut Dafydd Williams, who had previously served as an aquanaut on the NEEMO 1 mission, due to Williams' review of a temporary medical condition. In April 2006, Williams was named as the head of NEEMO 9.

Thirsk began training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Moscow in 2004 and was designated as a Flight Engineer for the Soyuz spacecraft. In April 2005, he served as backup Flight Engineer to European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Roberto Vittori for the Soyuz TMA-6 taxi mission to the ISS. Thirsk served as Crew Interface Coordinator (European Capcom) at the Columbus Control Center in Germany during the ten-day mission.

Thirsk was a member of the Expedition 21 crew on the International Space Station. He began as a Flight Engineer on the Soyuz TMA-15 Soyuz mission on May 27, 2009, as a member of the Expedition 20 crew. He was the first Canadian explorer to fly on a Soyuz. Thirsk is quoted as saying, "It will be the greatest thrill of my life." As both a test subject and a physician, I will investigate the long-term consequences of zero gravity throughout the project. My findings will undoubtedly contribute to the future of space station life." In November 2009, he returned to Earth on Soyuz TMA-15.

Julie Payette (Space Shuttle Endeavour STS 127) and space tourist Guy Laliberté on Soyuz TMA-16 at the end of September 2009 were on the ISS 20/21 flight. The meeting between Thirsk and Payette in July 2009 was the first time two Canadians had met in space. He and the Soyuz TMA-15 crew returned to Earth on December 1, 2009.

Thirsk was awarded the Russian Medal "for Merit in Space Exploration" on April 12, 2011 for outstanding contributions to the international cooperation in manned space exploration. He was appointed a Member of the Order of British Columbia in 2012, and he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2013.

Post-CSA career

Thirsk served with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research as Vice President, Government, and Institute Affairs from August 2012 to February 2014. The institute is the health research investment department of the Canadian government.

In September 2013, a Senior High School in Calgary, Alberta, named Thirsk High School paid tribute to Thirsk, who was named Robert Thirsk High School.

On July 1, 2014, Thirsk became the University of Calgary's Chancellor.

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