FOCUS ON PHILATELY

by Ingert Kuzych

New stamp honors first Ukrainian woman astronaut

Many countries worldwide recognize October as stamp collecting month and frequently issue especially interesting or attractive stamps during this time. Canada Post wanted to make sure that this year's commemoration was something "out of this world" so, on October 1 it released a set of eight self-adhesive stamps honoring living Canadian astronauts (Figure 1). One of the eight stamps in the issue pictured Roberta Lynn Bondar, Canada's first woman in space, who is of Ukrainian background.

About Roberta Bondar

Manned space flight is something that only a tiny fraction of the world's 6.3 billion people can ever experience. The men and women who do become astronauts are both mentally and physically among the "cream of the cream" of humanity. Roberta Bondar is no exception and fits the model of a classic overachiever. To read her jaw-dropping list of accomplishments leaves one almost breathless with admiration.

Roberta Lynn Bondar was born in Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario, on December 4, 1945, the younger of two children. From an early age she was fascinated by the world of science and this interest was nurtured by her parents. She enjoyed receiving such things as chemistry sets as gifts and, by the age of 7, she was conducting experiments in a basement laboratory built by her father.

Roberta was equally captivated by science fiction and she imagined herself taking part in the Flash Gordon stories she read and listened to on the radio. She even tried to contact beings from outer space on her radio set and she was known to "explore" her neighborhood as an "astronaut" (accompanied by her older sister).

Understandably, Roberta became fascinated with flying and was able to pilot a plane even before she could drive a car. She dreamed of someday becoming a real astronaut and avidly followed the American space program through pictures and news clippings sent to her by an aunt living in Florida.

During her school years Roberta excelled both academically and athletically. A high school science project led to summer employment studying the spruce budworm. This experience, in turn, led to studies in agriculture and zoology at the University of Guelph. Using her camera in support of her studies, she graduated with a bachelor of science degree in 1968.

She went on to attend the University of Western Ontario (where she developed new techniques for photomicroscopy) and the University of Toronto for graduate studies. She ultimately obtained a doctorate in neurobiology in 1974, again working extensively with photography.

Ms. Bondar then went on to medical school at McMaster University, graduating in 1977. She pursued her interests in neurology (the study of the brain) during her internship, and was admitted to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1981 as a specialist in that field. She conducted research at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, and at Toronto Western Hospital, before joining the McMaster University faculty as an assistant professor in 1982.

It was at about this time that Dr. Bondar's long-cherished dream of exploring space became a real possibility. In 1983 the National Research Council of Canada announced the formation of the Canadian space program, and invited applications from those interested in becoming astronauts. Dr. Bondar quickly submitted her application package and spent the next several months undergoing a battery of interviews. I

In December of that year she was informed that she was one of six people, chosen from a field of over 4,000 applicants, who would begin training to become the first Canadian astronauts. Not surprisingly, as the only female in the group, she received even greater scrutiny than her fellow candidates.

What followed were many years of intense training and preparation - as well as delays. For a while, after the Challenger disaster in 1986, it was uncertain whether or not the space shuttle program would even continue.

During her training, Dr. Bondar was offered the chance to stay on board the Mir space station, in order to participate in a study on the long-term effects of weightlessness on women. She declined the opportunity, however, as the Russian space program was interested in her not for her abilities as a scientist, but rather as a female subject for experiments.

As part of her preparation, Dr. Bondar had to learn to work aboard the shuttle, which had been designed for male occupants. She also had to make the decision to put off having a family in order to maintain an active role in the space program.

After a long wait, in 1990 Dr. Bondar learned that she would go into space as a payload specialist with the first International Microgravity Laboratory Mission, on board the space shuttle Discovery. She and the other six crew members had to wait a further two years for the launch of Mission STS-42, on January 22, 1992. She ended up spending eight days in space, conducting numerous life and material science experiments and photographing the earth's surface, before returning on January 30. (She wrote of the experience in her book "Touching the Earth.")

Dr. Bondar circled the earth 129 times: she was the first Canadian woman and the first neurologist to travel in space - and the first Ukrainian woman in space._1_

On returning from space, Dr. Bondar retired as an astronaut to devote further time to her neurological research. Her consuming interest was and continues to be neuro-ophthalmology - how we see and record the world around us. She also began spending more time pursuing her love of photography, particularly nature photography, and even enrolled in a professional course.

She summed up her refocus as follows: "To fly in space is to see the reality of Earth, alone. To touch the earth after, is to see beauty for the first time ... Although I cared deeply about the environment before I flew in space, I became passionate about it during my flight. My sense of responsibility [now] reaches beyond my lifetime to the future generations of the planet."

Inspired by her experiences in viewing the earth from space, she decided to further explore the planet from the ground and so between 1997 and 2000 began a project of photographing all 41 of Canada's national parks. The results were gathered into a book titled "Passionate Vision," as well as a museum exhibit with the same name that toured Canada in 2000-2002. In the fall of 2002, Dr. Bondar released another book, "Canada - Landscape of Dreams," which partnered her photography with quotes from dozens of prominent Canadians.

Dr. Bondar has received numerous honors during her career, including the Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario, the NASA Space Medal and some two dozen honorary degrees. She was named a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. She has received many additional awards and has at least two schools named after her, as well as resource centers, trophies and scholarships. A ship (the USS Bondar) and a rose (yellow) have also received her name.

In addition to her professional career, she pursues interests in a variety of outdoor activities, such as cycling, hiking, fishing, shooting, hot air ballooning and roller-blading. She also holds a private pilot's license.

About the Canadian Astronauts stamps

The eight stamps of the Canadian Astronauts set were designed by Pierre-Yves Pelletier to be round, in order to call to mind the shape of the earth and the path of an object in orbit. The star image on every stamp is taken from the Canadian Space Agency's logo; it represents a type of productive, energy-producing star sometimes believed to have influence over human destiny. The twinkling of this star on the stamps is the result of a special combination printing involving holographic hot stamping and micro-embossing.

Each stamp on a pane of eight portrays an astronaut in the foreground in color, while the background illustrates a highlight of his or her mission in black and white. The back of the stamp pane provides brief descriptions of each of the astronauts. The bottom of the pane presents the "Canadian space handshake" of 2001, when the newly installed Canadarm2 on the International Space Station transferred its launching cradle to the Canadarm on the shuttle Endeavour, with Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield at the controls.

The official unveiling of the stamps took place on September 26, at Saint-Hubert, Quebec, the home of the Canadian Space Agency [Figures 2 and 3]. All eight astronauts were on hand; the occasion marked the first time they had all shared the same "space" together. Six million of these 48-cent stamps - each 40 mm in diameter - were printed by Lowe-Martin Printers in six colors and using gold and silver foil.

References and suggested readings

Bondar, Roberta. "Canada - Landscape of Dreams." Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre, 2002, 109 pp.

Bondar, Roberta. "Passionate Vision: Discovering Canada's National Parks." Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre, 2000, 175 pp.

Bondar, Roberta. "Touching the Earth." Toronto: Key Porter Books, 1994, 144 pp.

Miller, Rick. "Eight 48-Cent Astronauts Stamps Picture Eight Living Canadians." Linn's Stamp News (September 29): 1, 48.

http://robertabondar.ca is Dr. Bondar's own website.

http://www.kodak.com/us/en/corp/features/bondar is a beautiful site featuring some of Roberta Bondar's excellent nature photography.

http://www. jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/PS/bondar.html is the NASA biographical data sheet on Roberta Bondar.

http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/2/12/h12-402-e.html is the National Library of Canada's write-up on Roberta Bondar.

1. I have not been able to confirm a statement I once encountered that the Soviet cosmonaut Valentyna Tereshkova, who circled the earth 45 times in the Vostok 6 spacecraft on June 16-19, 1963, was the first Ukrainian woman in space. All sources I have been able to locate indicate that she was of Russian extraction. [Back to Text]

Ingert Kuzych may be contacted at P.O. Box 3, Springfield, VA 22150 or at his e-mail address: [email protected].

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, November 2, 2003, No. 44, Vol. LXXI

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