Saint-Hubert, August 1st, 2003 – July 30th marked the 1000th day of human presence aboard the International Space Station (ISS), a platform for scientific experiments and observation of Earth and space.
“The milestone marked by the 1000th day of human presence aboard the largest international scientific program ever undertaken is testament of the cooperation of Canada and its partners, the U.S., Russia, Japan andd eleven European countries, helped in no small part by the Canadian Space Agency,” said CSA President Marc Garneau.
Canadian technology is playing a key role in the building of the ISS, through the use of the Canadarm2 and its mobile base system that allows it to move around the station. “Dextre” a multi-function two armed robot when launched in 2005 or later will perform precision ISS assembly tasks reducing the need for spacewalks by astronauts.
Canadians participation in the ISS is expected to produce $4 billion of economic benefits for Canadians and about 63,000 person-years of employment. To date, the CSA has awarded contracts to industry in the order of $1.25 billion, generating an estimated $2.8 billion in benefits and about 45,282 person-years of employment
Following the tragic loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia and her crew, the CSA has been working with its international partners to maintain a human presence on the station. The CSA looks forward to the safe and secure return to flight, and timely resumption of ISS assembly and opportunities for enhanced utilization of this world-class scientific research facility.
On Tuesday at the Heads of Space Agencies meeting, NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe contacted crew members to speak about this achievement. A recording of this interview is available on the CSA website at
http://www.space.gc.ca/asc/video/issdownlink073003.rm