Marc Garneau

(1949 - 2025)
SPACE Canada is proud to honour the legacy of Marc Garneau.

Marc Garneau has served his country his entire professional career, beginning with the Canadian Navy and then as an astronaut and President of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). In political life, Marc was an elected Member of Parliament. Marc was made a Companion in the Order of Canada, Canada’s highest civilian honour. He received the honour of having two high schools named after him, Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute in Toronto and École Secondaire Marc Garneau in Trenton, Ontario.

Marc began his service to Canada as a Navy combat systems engineer on HMCS Algonquin, was promoted to Commander in 1982 while at Staff College and was transferred to Ottawa in 1983. In 1986 he was promoted to Naval Captain and retired from the Navy in 1989. Marc began astronaut training in 1984 after being selected from four thousand candidates and made history as the first Canadian Astronaut to fly in space as a payload specialist on Shuttle Mission 41-G in October 1984. Garneau has logged over 677 hours in space.