Dr. Roberta L. Bondar is globally recognized for her pioneering contributions to space medicine research, fine art photography, and education on the environment. Aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery mission STS-42 in 1992, she conducted experiments in the first International Microgravity Laboratory, a precursor to the International Space Station. Trained by NASA’s Earth Observations team, she also photographed the Earth while circling it 129 times. Dr. Bondar later became an honors student in professional nature photography. For her Passionate Vision project, she photographed, with medium- and large-format film cameras, each of Canada’s national parks; for The Arid Edge of Earth she photographed global arid landscapes and their World Heritage Sites. Private, corporate, and institutional collections in Canada, the USA, and the UK hold Dr. Bondar’s fine art photographic prints. She is the author of several best-selling books featuring her writing and photography.

Dr. Bondar’s distinctions are diverse and include: Companion of the Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario, the NASA Space Medal, induction into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame and into the International Women’s Forum’s Hall of Fame, many honorary doctorates from Canadian and American Universities, a former Chancellor of Trent University, six Canadian schools in her name, a Specially Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and her own star on Canada’s Walk of Fame.

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