The Most Famous
ASTRONAUTS from Canada
This page contains a list of the greatest Canadian Astronauts. The pantheon dataset contains 556 Astronauts, 7 of which were born in Canada. This makes Canada the birth place of the 8th most number of Astronauts behind Germany, and Italy.
Top 8
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Canadian Astronauts of all time. This list of famous Canadian Astronauts is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Roberta Bondar (b. 1945)
With an HPI of 50.21, Roberta Bondar is the most famous Canadian Astronaut. Her biography has been translated into 41 different languages on wikipedia.
Roberta Lynn Bondar (; born December 4, 1945) is a Canadian astronaut, neurologist and consultant. She is Canada's first female astronaut and the first neurologist in space. After more than a decade as head of an international space medicine research team collaborating with NASA, Bondar became a consultant and speaker in the business, scientific, and medical communities. Roberta Bondar has received many honours including appointment as a Companion of the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario, the NASA Space Flight Medal, over 28 honorary degrees, induction into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame, the International Women's Forum Hall of Fame and a star on Canada's Walk of Fame.
2. Chris Hadfield (b. 1959)
With an HPI of 44.40, Chris Hadfield is the 2nd most famous Canadian Astronaut. His biography has been translated into 35 different languages.
Chris Austin Hadfield (born August 29, 1959) is a Canadian retired astronaut, engineer, fighter pilot, musician, and writer. The first Canadian to perform extravehicular activity in outer space, he has flown two Space Shuttle missions and also served as commander of the International Space Station (ISS). Prior to his career as an astronaut, he served in the Canadian Armed Forces for 25 years as an Air Command fighter pilot. Hadfield has cited part of his career inspiration to have come to him as a child, when he watched the first crewed Moon landing by American spaceflight Apollo 11 on television. He attended high school in Oakville and Milton in southern Ontario, and earned his glider pilot licence as a member of the Royal Canadian Air Cadets. After enlisting in the Canadian Armed Forces, he earned an engineering degree at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario. Hadfield learned to fly various types of aircraft in the military and eventually became a test pilot, flying several experimental planes. As part of an exchange program with the United States Navy and United States Air Force, he obtained a master's degree in aviation systems at the University of Tennessee Space Institute. In 1992, Hadfield was accepted into the Canadian astronaut program by the Canadian Space Agency. He first flew in space in November 1995 as a mission specialist aboard STS-74, visiting the Russian space station Mir. He flew again in April 2001 on STS-100, when he visited the ISS and walked in space to help install Canadarm2. In December 2012, he flew for a third time aboard Soyuz TMA-07M to join Expedition 34 on the ISS. When Expedition 34 ended in March 2013, Hadfield became the commander of the ISS as part of Expedition 35, responsible for a crew of five astronauts and helping to run dozens of scientific experiments dealing with the impact of low gravity on human biology. During this mission, he chronicled life onboard the space station by taking pictures of Earth and posting them on various social media platforms. He was a guest on television news and talk shows and gained popularity by playing the ISS's guitar in space. Hadfield returned to Earth in May 2013, when the mission ended. He announced his retirement shortly after returning, capping a 35-year-long career as a military pilot and astronaut. He has five published books including his autobiography, the NYT-bestseller An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth.
3. Steve MacLean (b. 1954)
With an HPI of 37.59, Steve MacLean is the 3rd most famous Canadian Astronaut. His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.
Steven Glenwood MacLean (born December 14, 1954) is a retired Canadian astronaut. He was the president of the Canadian Space Agency, from September 1, 2008, to February 1, 2013. He was born in Ottawa, Ontario, and is married to Nadine Wielgopolski of Hull, Quebec. They have three children. He enjoys hiking, canoeing, flying, parachuting and gymnastics. In 2013 he returned to physics research as an associate member of the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) at the University of Waterloo.
4. Robert Thirsk (b. 1953)
With an HPI of 37.52, Robert Thirsk is the 4th most famous Canadian Astronaut. His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.
Robert Brent "Bob" Thirsk, (born August 17, 1953) is a Canadian retired engineer and physician, and a former Canadian Space Agency astronaut. He holds the Canadian record for the most time spent in space (204 days 18 hours). He became an officer of the Order of Canada (OC) in 2013 and was named to the Order of British Columbia (OBC) in 2012.
5. David Saint-Jacques (b. 1970)
With an HPI of 35.56, David Saint-Jacques is the 5th most famous Canadian Astronaut. Her biography has been translated into 21 different languages.
David Saint-Jacques (Quebec French: [davɪd sẽɪ̯̃nʒã(ŋ)k̚], French pronunciation: [david sɛ̃ʒak]; born 6 January 1970) is a Canadian astronaut with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). He is also an astrophysicist, engineer, and a physician. In December 2018, he launched to the International Space Station, as Flight Engineer on Expeditions 57, 58 and 59; he returned to Earth on 25 June 2019.
6. Dafydd Williams (b. 1954)
With an HPI of 35.42, Dafydd Williams is the 6th most famous Canadian Astronaut. His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.
Dafydd Rhys "David" Williams (born May 16, 1954) is a Canadian physician, public speaker, author and retired CSA astronaut. Williams was a mission specialist on two Space Shuttle missions. His first spaceflight, STS-90 in 1998, was a 16-day mission aboard Space Shuttle Columbia dedicated to neuroscience research. His second flight, STS-118 in August 2007, was flown by Space Shuttle Endeavour to the International Space Station. During that mission he performed three spacewalks, becoming the third Canadian to perform a spacewalk and setting a Canadian record for total number of spacewalks. These spacewalks combined for a total duration of 17 hours and 47 minutes. In 1998, Williams became the first non-American to hold a senior management position within NASA, when he held the position of Director of the Space and Life Sciences Directorate at the Johnson Space Center and Deputy Associate Administrator of the Office of Spaceflight at NASA Headquarters.
7. Gregory Chamitoff (b. 1962)
With an HPI of 33.84, Gregory Chamitoff is the 7th most famous Canadian Astronaut. His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.
Gregory Errol Chamitoff (born 6 August 1962) is a Canadian-born American engineer and former NASA astronaut. He has been to space twice, spending 6 months aboard the ISS across Expedition 17 and 18 in 2008, and another 15 days as part of STS-134 in 2011. STS-134 was the last of Space Shuttle Endeavour which delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and completed the US Orbital Segment.
8. Jeremy Hansen (b. 1976)
With an HPI of 29.48, Jeremy Hansen is the 8th most famous Canadian Astronaut. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Jeremy Roger Hansen (born January 27, 1976) is a Canadian astronaut, fighter pilot, physicist and former aquanaut. He was selected to join the Canadian Space Agency in the 2009 CSA selection along with David Saint-Jacques. Prior to his selection as one of Canada's astronauts, Hansen was a Royal Canadian Air Force captain, piloting the CF-18 fighter jet at CFB Cold Lake, Alberta. He has since been promoted to the rank of colonel. Hansen was selected as a mission specialist on the Artemis II flight, which intends to circle the Moon in 2025. If successful, he will be the first non-American astronaut to travel beyond low Earth orbit.
People
Pantheon has 8 people classified as Canadian astronauts born between 1945 and 1976. Of these 8, 8 (100.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Canadian astronauts include Roberta Bondar, Chris Hadfield, and Steve MacLean. As of April 2024, 1 new Canadian astronauts have been added to Pantheon including Jeremy Hansen.
Living Canadian Astronauts
Go to all Rankings
Roberta Bondar
1945 - Present
HPI: 50.21
Chris Hadfield
1959 - Present
HPI: 44.40
Steve MacLean
1954 - Present
HPI: 37.59
Robert Thirsk
1953 - Present
HPI: 37.52
David Saint-Jacques
1970 - Present
HPI: 35.56
Dafydd Williams
1954 - Present
HPI: 35.42
Gregory Chamitoff
1962 - Present
HPI: 33.84
Jeremy Hansen
1976 - Present
HPI: 29.48
