Topic – Roberta Bondar

Roberta Bondar

When Roberta Bondar was eight years old, she wanted to become an astronaut. Back then, she did not know that she would become the first Canadian woman astronaut.

Growing Up

Roberta grew up in Ontario, Canada, in the city of Sault Ste. Marie (say it like this: soo saint mah-ree). She enjoyed building plastic models of rockets and space stations. Sometimes she looked up at the stars and wondered what Earth looked like from space.

Blasting Off

When she got older, Roberta became a doctor. She had not forgotten her dream of going into space. In 1983, she began training as an astronaut. In 1992, she blasted off into space on a spacecraft called Discovery.

While she was in space, Roberta did experiments to learn more about the human body. She also took photos of Earth from the spacecraft.

Roberta was not scared in space, but her body felt strange. “The feeling in space flight is like hanging by your heels, with your head down below, with all the blood rushing to your head!” said Roberta.

After the Space Flight

When she returned from space, Roberta continued doing experiments to learn about the human body. She also wrote a book that tells about her time in space. Roberta also loves taking photos that show the beauty of nature on Earth and of Earth from space.

Now, show what you know!

Complete some questions about the reading selection by clicking “Begin Questions” below.