Remembering Marc Garneau: Canada's First Astronaut

Mark Garneau, the first Canadian to go into space, later served as a federal cabinet minister. He died at 76.

The Stars and Stripes on the flagpole at the front of the Johnson Space Center is enormous, as you’d expect from a major American institution.

I had been at Johnson for a couple of days, as a reporter covering the shuttle flight of Canadian astronaut Steve MacLean, and I remember being struck by the sheer size of the place – some 100 buildings on more than 1,600 acres of land.

And, of course, that giant, brash flag.

I first met Marc Garneau, Canada’s first astronaut, on Oct. 24, 1992, at JSC, where he was with the Canadian Space Agency. MacLean’s shuttle had been launched from Kennedy Space Center two days earlier and I had flown across the U.S. to follow the flight from mission control at JSC.

That Saturday evening, there was also some baseball being played.

The Toronto Blue Jays, leading the World Series with the Atlanta Braves 3-2, were in the Georgia city for Game 6. After filing my report for the day to the Toronto Star, I joined other journalists and members of the Canadian Space Agency in a hotel room to watch the game.

Garneau, as I recall, was not expected, owing to pressure of work on the mission, but showed up anyway, a couple of innings into the game. Someone had organized a betting pool, in which you picked a number. If that number turned out to equal the sum of the runs scored in the game, you took the kitty.

As it happened, both Garneau and I had 7; the Jays won the game 4-3 to take their first World Series so Garneau and I shared the small prize.

The party broke up soon after the game ended. The shuttle mission was still under way and we all had work the next day.

That Sunday, as I drove into the JSC complex, I noticed an oddity.

Atop the flagpole, above the U.S. flag, was a small red and white banner. Somehow, the Maple Leaf had been hoisted during the night. And because it was Sunday, with only the shuttle mission staff on the premises, it stayed there all day.

I met Garneau a couple of times later, in the course of my work as The Star’s science reporter, and asked him about the flag.

He said he couldn’t possibly comment.

According to the source: The Globe and Mail.