Of 72 people on a Canadian Space Agency shortlist to become our country’s newest astronauts, 10 of them have ties to either Waterloo Region or Guelph.
Martha Lenio, for example, was born in Kitchener, went through the University of Waterloo’s mechanical engineering program and still lives in Waterloo, where she owns a consulting company focused on renewable energy.
Scott VanBommel was born in Kitchener, and has received bachelor and master’s degrees in physics from the University of Guelph. He expects to get his PhD, also in physics, in a few months’ time, and is part of a team that analyzes data sent back to Earth by the Mars rovers.
Also on the shortlist are Lesha Kolubinski, a flight test engineer who was born in Guelph, and Francis Hane – who was born in Simcoe, obtained his PhD in biophysics at the University of Waterloo, and currently works as a commercial pilot.
Several other candidates are not originally from the area, but did attend university here.
That list includes Matthew Bamsey, who got a PhD in environmental biology at the University of Guelph, and now works as an engineer at an aerospace centre in Germany.
It also features Thomas Karakolis, a scientist with the Department of National Defence who obtained his PhD in kinesiology from the University of Waterloo, and Jesse Zroback, a physician who went through the chemical engineering program at Waterloo and came out of it with a bachelor degree.
Physician and medical professor Kris Lehnhardt did an undergraduate program in bio-medical science at the University of Guelph, while Olathe MacIntyre got her PhD in environmental sciences from the same school – and knows a thing or two about space, given her current job at the Science North planetarium in Sudbury.
Francis Frenzel wasn’t born in Waterloo Region and didn’t attend any local universities, but he does currently live in Petersburg – that is, when he’s not training to become a pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force or co-ordinating flights out of Canadian Forces Base Trenton.
The 72 candidates selected by the CSA for its shortlist were whittled down from a pool of 3,772 applications submitted online.
Most of them are either engineers, medical professionals or members of the Canadian Forces.
To be considered, the CSA said, candidates needed an academic background in science or technology, excellent health, and outstanding qualities and skills.
All 72 will now spend the next year taking part in interviews, written exams and fitness tests before two people are selected to become Canada's next astronauts.
With files from The Canadian Press
