Chief Astronaut, Canadian Space Agency Julie Payette flew on Space Shuttle Discovery from May 27 to June 6, 1999 as a crewmember of STS-96. During the mission, the crew performed the first manual docking of the Shuttle to the International Space Station (ISS), and delivered 4 tons of supplies to the Station. Ms. Payette served as a mission specialist, was responsible for the Station systems and operated the Canadarm robotic arm on orbit. The STS-96 mission was accomplished in 153 orbits of the Earth, traveling 4 million miles in 9 days, 19 hours and 13 minutes. Ms. Payette became the first Canadian to participate in an ISS assembly mission and to board the Space Station. In addition to her role as Chief Astronaut for the Canadian Space Agency, Julie Payette works as a Test Representative and Crew Liaison Officer for the ISS Program in Europe in support of crew interfaces and hardware testing activities. She divides her time between these responsibilities and astronaut currency training in Houston. Ms. Payette received her International Baccalaureate (1982) from the United World College of the Atlantic in South Wales, UK, a Bachelor of Engineering - Electrical (1986) from McGill University, Montreal, Canada and a Master of Applied Science - Computer Engineering (1990) from the University of Toronto. In preparation for a space mission assignment, Ms. Payette obtained her commercial pilot license, studied Russian and logged 120 hours as a research operator on board reduced gravity aircraft. In April 1996, Ms. Payette was certified as a one-atmosphere deep-sea diving suit operator. Ms. Payette obtained her captaincy on the CT-114 military jet at the Canadian Air Force Base in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan in February 1996. She obtained her military instrument rating in 1997. Ms. Payette has logged more than 900 hours of flight time, including 450 hours on high performance jet aircraft. Before joining the space program, Ms. Payette conducted research in computer systems, natural language processing, automatic speech recognition and the application of interactive technologies in space. System engineer - IBM Canada (1986-88). Research Assistant - University of Toronto (1988-90). Visiting scientist - IBM Research Laboratory, Zurich, Switzerland (1991). Research engineer - Speech Research Group, Bell-Northern Research /Nortel, Montreal (1992).
For more information link to: www.space.gc.ca/csa_sectors/human_presence/astronauts/astronauts/corps/biopayette.asp
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episode 1 - time 16.42
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