Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk is back on earth after a Canadian record stay of 189 days in space. After his six-month stay on the International Space Station, he and two crewmates landed safely in an icy field of grass in northern Kazakhstan on December 1, 2009. Helicopters were grounded because of the weather conditions, so Thirsk was loaded by stretcher onto a heavy-duty vehicle, where he slept for the four-hour ride to Moscow to be reunited with his family. It is expected that it will take Thirsk three weeks or so to be able to get back to normal activities after so long a stretch in space, and it will probably be another six months to a year before his bone mass is back to normal.
Thirsk set two records for the Canadian space program. It was the longest stay in space for a Canadian. In fact his career total of 206 days in space is more than the total number of days spent in space by all other Canadian astronauts combined. It was also the first time two Canadians have been in space at the same time. Thirsk was joined by Julie Payette on the International Space Station in July 2009. And in October 2009, Guy LaLiberté, the founder of Cirque du Soleil, met up with Thirsk on the International Space Station when he became Canada's first space tourist.
During his stay on the International Space Station, Bob Thirsk used the Canadarm2 to capture a Japanese cargo vessel, the first capture of a free-flying spacecraft. He also participated in a variety of experiments, including studies of the effects of "long-term" living in space on nutrition, the immune system, bone loss and red blood cell count, and a study of willow saplings to examine the role gravity plays in the formation of different kinds of wood.
Photo: Canadian Astronaut Bob Thirsk
NASA Johnson Space Center
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