Two Canadian astronauts are heading to the International Space Station in 2009, Industry Minister Jim Prentice announced Monday.
Prentice, the minister in charge of the Canadian Space Agency, said mission specialist Julie Payette will visit the ISS in April 2009 aboard the shuttle Endeavour.
In May, Bob Thirsk will travel to the space station aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule.
Thirsk, who was aboard the shuttle Columbia in 1996, will be the first Canadian to stay at the station for an extended period of time (about six months).
"In a nutshell, this expedition... is going to be a marathon, not a sprint, and endurance will be important," Thirsk told reporters Monday. "I'll need to do everything I can to maintain my mental, physical and psychological edge."
Thirsk will be involved in research during his six-month stay at the ISS. He will also be tasked with maintenance and repair work. But he's also looking forward this time to just be able to stare out into space.
"During my first mission I did not have enough time to stare out the window at our beautiful blue planet down below," he told Â鶹´«Ã½. "during this longer expedition I do expect to satisfy myself."
Payette, who was aboard Discovery in 1999, told Â鶹´«Ã½ that Canada has chosen to play in the "big leagues" and become a "player in the exploration of outer space."
She is part of a building crew that will install a Japanese research module.
"In my case it's more of a construction mission. It's kind of a joke, but I will be a crane operator, doing robotic manipulation," she told Â鶹´«Ã½.
In 1999, Payette and her fellow crew members performed the first manual docking of the Shuttle to the ISS. They also delivered four tons of supplies to the station.
At that time, the station was very small with only two modules and nobody permanently inside, said Payette.
"Now I have an enormous infrastructure in space that is almost complete to perform what it's built for -- research," she told Canada AM before Monday's announcement.
In 2009, Payette said her crew will be bringing the "last big pieces" to help complete the ISS.
"We're going to conduct five spacewalks in order to put them on the space station and then go back to earth," she said.
Canada has played an integral role in the completion of the ISS, said Payette.
"It's clear that you cannot assemble the International Space Station without the Canadian technology -- the (Canadarm) robotic arm," she said.
"We've provided all the cranes basically for the construction and it's impossible to maintain and put together the space station without it."
Payette said it was fitting that a Canadian astronaut now gets to operate the robotic arms.
