Robert “Bob” Thirsk

Birthplace and date: Born August 17, 1953, New Westminster, British Columbia.

Education: Robert “Bob” Thirsk received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Calgary in 1976, a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1978, a Doctor of Medicine from McGill University in 1982, and a Master of Business Administration from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1998.

Experience: Bob was selected in December 1983 for the Canadian Astronaut Program. He began astronaut training in February 1984 and served as backup payload specialist to Marc Garneau for the October 1984 Space Shuttle Mission STS-41G.

Bob served as crew commander for two space mission simulations: the seven-day CAPSULS mission in 1994, at Defense Research and Development Canada in Toronto, and the 11-day NEEMO 7 undersea mission in 2004 at the National Undersea Research Center in Key Largo, Florida. In 1998, Bob was assigned by the Canadian Space Agency to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to pursue mission specialist training. This training program involved advanced instruction on both Shuttle and International Space Station (ISS) systems, EVA (spacewalking), robotic operations, and Russian language. Within the NASA Astronaut Office, Bob served as a CapCom (capsule communicator) for the International Space Station program. In 2004, Bob trained at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre near Moscow and became certified as a Flight Engineer for the Soyuz spacecraft. He served as backup Flight Engineer to European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori for the Soyuz 10S taxi mission to the ISS in April 2005. During this 10-day mission, Bob worked as Eurocom (European CapCom) at ESA’s Columbus Control Centre in Germany. In February 2008, Bob again performed Eurocom duties from Germany in support of ISS Expedition 16 crew activities. Bob holds an Adjunct Faculty position at International Space University in Strasbourg, France. He works with educational specialists in Canada to develop space-related curriculum for grade school students. He encourages young Canadians to build their dreams upon a solid educational foundation and advanced skills. Bob is a strong promoter of a national economy based upon exploration and innovation.

Spaceflight Experience: In June and July 1996, Bob flew as a payload specialist aboard Space Shuttle mission STS-78, the Life and Microgravity Spacelab mission. During this 17-day flight aboard Columbia, he and his six crewmates performed 43 international experiments devoted to the study of life and materials sciences. The life science experiments investigated changes in plants, animals, and humans under space flight conditions. The materials science experiments examined protein crystallization, fluid physics and high-temperature solidification of multi-phase materials in a weightless environment.

In 2009 Bob became the first Canadian astronaut to fly a long duration expedition aboard the International Space Station. He and two crewmates launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 27 May aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. When their Soyuz vehicle docked with the nearly-complete Station two days later, the ISS became home for the first time to a permanent crew of six. As members of the ISS Expedition 20/21 crew, Bob and his five international crewmates performed an unprecedented amount of multidisciplinary research, complex robotic operations, and maintenance and repair work of Station systems and payloads. Following the undocking of his Soyuz spacecraft from the Station and landing back in Kazakhstan on December 1st, Bob Thirsk had lived and worked in space for another 188 days during this second voyage.

Dr. Thirsk resigned as an active astronaut in 2012 and retired from the Canadian federal government in 2014. He then served as Chancellor of the University of Calgary from 2014-2018. Bob served as chair of a Canadian Space Agency task force The Advisory Council on Deep Space Healthcare in 2019-2021. He currently serves as a director for several social purpose organizations.