The astronaut program was born
with the contribution of Canadarm.
NASA invited us as well
to fly astronauts on the Space Shuttle.
And it was a nice relationship
that was developed throughout those years.
We became participant
in the biggest engineering project ever, ah, conceived by man.
And its unbelievable that we prepared so well,
for the launch of the Canadarm2
in 2001, with STS 100.
And to come, you know, during that mission
where there is major glitch with computers on the space station,
during the time when the Shuttle was present.
When we have these last minute issues come up,
ah... In last minute changes to the mission,
we ah, we have to attack the problem.
Common objective is: get the mission done.
Ah.. We needed to rework our plan,
and spend, extended hours testing these products,
and getting them delivered on time;
so we can then do the final call,
to say that we are GO for flight!
Canada Arm II can do the job!
I'm a "mission controller", and my basic job, is to fly the arm.
Were the ones that send most of the commands from the ground.
Depending on the operation,
sometimes its also the astronaust on the space station
that do the flying of the arm, but even then,
we are massively involved.
When an astronaut comes to Canadian Space Agency,
for ah.. For some training on the Canadarm2,
we have a series of theoretical process.
One of the reasons it's somewhat renown,
is that...Were not afraid to tell these.. these astronauts
that, no, you did that wrong.
Let's work on it and were goin to do it the right way!
My prediction is that Canadarm3 will be, ah..
A telescopic arm, so that you do segments.
The arms, the upper and lower arms,
will be able to compress
and fit in a smaller launch vehicule.
Communications satellites that require refueling,
will be able to be serviced by Canadian technology.
I predict Canadarm3, like Canadarm2
will outperform its predecessor.
Being able to say that , "you know that guy,
that woman, who is out there operating the Canadarm2, in space?"
Well.. I trained that person.
When we sent Chris Hadfield with his American partner,
undoing the bowels, deploying the arms and..
commenting about it, it was a moment, again of pride,
but also o f accomplishment!
You participate in operations that..
you basically built,
and then the astronauts call down to thank you by name.
Its someting.. Very remarkable,
to participate in things like that.
My team and I, have probably the...
the coolest job, in Canada,
or I would even venture on Earth.
We get to operate the Canadarm2,
and we have been doing so for the past 10 years.
Not only that, but since 2005,
we are able to control that Canadarm2
from the ground,
and in that way we are able to..
basically help the astronaut do their job,
more efficiantly... While ...
Allowing us to basically, play like big kids!