Roberta Lynn Bondar

Roberta Bondar was a woman from Ontario, Canada who dreamed of becoming an astronaut even as a child. She was the only woman of 4000 other Canadian candidates who got the opportunity of making their dreams come true. Doing this, she was the first Canadian woman and neurologist in space. Her determination and hard work helped her achieve her goals and overcome many struggles and challenges. She even went beyond her dreams as she got her name added to the Medical Hall of Fame.

Roberta Bondar was born on December 4th, 1945 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Her mother was a teacher while her father was an office manager for the city. She had but one older sister named Barbara, her only sibling.

Even as a child, Roberta had an interest in space and was determined to become an astronaut. She often read science fiction stories and built rockets as well as other spacecrafts as hobbies. But even so, above all, she wanted to go into space.

School was pretty brutal for Roberta. She spent many summers studying Biology, Agriculture and Zoology at the University of Guelph during her high school years. But the good of it was yet to come. After graduating in 1968, she went to the University of Western Ontario and received an M.D in pathology followed by a doctorate in neurobiology at the University of Toronto. She then became a doctor after studying medicine in 1977 at McMasters University. Aside from her studies, Roberta was a strong athlete and learned how to be a pilot (fly) in her teens.

During her early years, Roberta had her mind set on going into space and becoming an astronaut. Her family always stood by her side while her aunt enriched her with encouragement. Roberta was even more inspired when many astronauts zoomed through space when she was 16.

Roberta continued working as a neurologist, until her big chance came and NASA offered Canadians a few missions. Roberta grabbed this opportunity and applied along with 40000 others. To her surprise she and 5 other men were chosen. These men included, Marc Garneau, Ken Money, Steve Maclean, Bob Thirsk and Bjarni Trggvason.

Challenges and Accomplishments Getting into NASA took a huge amount of courage and was a great challenge. Roberta had to answer many questions and was interviewed many times before acceptance. But her 34 years of preparation didn't go to waste.

When she started her work at NASA, her schedule was overloaded so, meeting her family became a problem, but Roberta knew it was worth it. During her time there, Roberta displayed a stroke of bravery after something terrible happened, and the shuttle Challenger blew up. She overcame this by deciding it was worth taking risks for. But because of this, any further missions were delayed and it took years for Roberta�s dream to come true. Still she didn't give up hope. Rejecting other offers and requests, she continued waiting, until she came to know that either she or Ken Money along with 4 others would get the opportunity. Luckily Roberta was chosen as she met all the requirements needed, and was able to board the shuttle.

Roberta had to perform many experiments on the space shuttle Discovery. Plus, she had to work 12-hour shifts, which made things much harder. Still, it was an unforgettable experience.