LIVE – David Saint-Jacques, Roberta Bondar and Jenni Sidey-Gibbons launch Exploring Earth

Uploaded on January 22, 2019

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LIVE – David Saint-Jacques, Roberta Bondar and Jenni Sidey-Gibbons launch Exploring Earth

2019-01-22 - CSA astronaut David Saint-Jacques talks about Earth observation from space with Roberta Bondar and Jenni Sidey-Gibbons for the Exploring Earth activity. (Credit: Canadian Space Agency)

CHRISTINA TESSIER: Good morning! Good morning! Good morning! Thank you. 

I wish to begin by recognizing that we are currently gathered on the traditional Algonquin Anishinaabe territory. Welcome to the Canada Science and Technology Museum. And welcome to those of you joining us online. 

My name is Christina Tessier, and I am President and CEO of Ingenium – Canada’s Museums of Science and Innovation. Ingenium manages this national museum, as well as two others in the region: the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum and the Canada Aviation and Space Museum.  

Our three museums tell the stories of ingenious and innovative people, many of them Canadian, who dare to think differently. Our museums are places where you can learn and explore, play and discover. We hope they are places that spark your curiosity about the world around you.  

Today, we are incredibly lucky to welcome three astronauts to our museum here, in person, and through our livestream. I have to admit; I'm a little nervous to be introducing such amazing Canadians to you today. So, I'm going to ask our astronauts to stand up as we introduce them.  

First, former member of the Canadian astronaut corps: Dr. Roberta Bondar, who now runs the Roberta Bondar Foundation.  

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CHRISTINA TESSIER: Canadian astronaut, Dr. Jenni Sidey-Gibbons.  

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CHRISTINA TESSIER: And Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques, who will join us shortly from the International Space Station.  

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CHRISTINA TESSIER: The teachers and students who are here with us in the auditorium are from three Ottawa schools, so let me hear you when I call out your school name. so let me hear you when I call out your school name. Let me hear you when I call out your school name.

La Vérendrye Catholic Elementary School.  

--- (general cheer and applause) 

CHRISTINA TESSIER: Saint-François-d'Assise Catholic Elementary School. 

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CHRISTINA TESSIER: Connaught Public School.  

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CHRISTINA TESSIER: I'm feeling a little excitement in the room – that's good.  

So, students, I'm going to ask you to make me a promise today. Days like this can be transformational in your life, to have an opportunity to talk with astronauts, to talk through a livestream with an astronaut who is at the International Space Station; if you look back on this day and it is a day that sparked your lifelong interest in space, technology, engineering, I want you to come back and tell us your story 10, 15, 20 years from now. This museum will still be here – I probably won't – but please do come back and share your stories with us. 

So, before I turn things over to astronaut Dr. Jenni Sidey-Gibbons, I want to mention that today, January 22nd, is a special day for Dr. Bondar. It was 27 years ago today, in 1992, that Dr. Bondar launched into space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery for an eight-day mission. And this isn't the first time that Dr. Bondar has been to our museum. She was here in 1992, shortly after she had returned to Earth from her space flight. Welcome back, Dr. Bondar.  

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CHRISTINA TESSIER: Among the students here today, who would like to become an astronaut and explore space? Who would like to become an astronaut? I see a few hands out there.  

And who would like to work as an aerospace engineer on the construction of a future space station or rover? Put up your hands. Yes?  

Science and technology are what allow humans to fly in space, and this morning, science and technology will allow us to speak with astronaut David Saint-Jacques, who’s orbiting Earth on the Space Station.  

I hope that today’s event will inspire you to think about the incredible contributions that science and technology have made to our day-to-day lives. We are thrilled to have this opportunity to work with amazing partners to develop an educational tool that brings astronaut David Saint-Jacques' mission into classrooms across Canada. Stay tuned today for details. 

The conversation with David will start in just a few minutes. Before we begin please welcome to the stage astronaut Dr. Jenni Sidey-Gibbons.  

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Dr. JENNI SIDEY-GIBBONS: Thank you, Ms. Tessier. I’m very happy to be here with you. It's an absolute pleasure to be here today. Thank you for having me. It is exciting for me to be able to share bits of David's mission, all that I can, with you, and also be able to be in the presence of people who were my role models, like Roberta Bondar.  

It's a very exciting time to be part of the Canadian space program, especially because David is in space right now. Now, space provides us with a unique vantage point from which we can understand the complexity and the intricacy of our planet. Canada has been a leader in the field of space observation for 25 years, and using satellites, we take images of our planet and of Canada every day, to monitor ice, our environment, agriculture, our coasts, as well as detect ships and support relief efforts during natural disasters. In fact, Canada will be launching RADARSAT Constellation Mission to space later this year, to help with just that.   

But there's more than one way to look back at our planet. Some get to see this view with their very own eyes. David, currently in space, recently commented and said that he is completely taken aback by the incredible beauty of our planet.  

But it's not just a beautiful view. The perspective from space can help us understand the geological, environmental and ecological systems that we live in every day much better. And indeed, part of an astronaut's work while aboard the International Space Station is to take beautiful pictures of Earth for research purposes and to record how the planet is changing. The astronaut’s point of view gives us a chance to appreciate our planet from a distance and gain perspective on its beauty, fragility and history.  

So, today, as we are here to launch a very special digital initiative using photos taken from space by David to better understand just how our planet works, I am sure that his photos of Earth will make you want to protect it better, just like he does.  

Now, this Web-based interactive project invites young Canadians to explore the science of Earth and tell its story. And to help tell that story the Canadian Space Agency has collaborated with several partners, both for their expertise in education and Earth sciences: Ingenium – Canada’s Museums of Science and Innovation, the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and Canadian Geographic Education, Western University, and finally, Dr. Bondar and the Roberta Bondar Foundation. 

Now, Roberta was the first Canadian woman and the world's first neurologist in space. I really think that space exploration changes what we think is possible, and the people that do it, help with that. For me, Roberta Bondar changed what I thought was possible, around 27 years ago. I remember my mom emphasizing how important her mission was as the first Canadian female astronaut in space, and that really stuck with me. Maybe I didn't realize how important that was – I was a bit younger than you guys when it happened – but it had an impact on me and really, it set me on the trajectory where I am today, and now I am able to share that with you. 

And today is particularly special, because it has been exactly 27 years since Roberta launched into space. She is one of very few Canadians who has had the opportunity to see our planet from up there, and after her flight she was inspired to start using fine art photography to explore and reveal the Earth's natural environment from the surface. At the Canadian Space Agency we are very proud that she has accepted to collaborate in the Exploring Earth project, which we are launching today.  

Roberta, please join me on the stage.  

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Dr. JENNI SIDEY-GIBBONS: Well, thanks for joining me.  

Dr. ROBERTA BONDAR: My pleasure to be here. What a grand day this is.  

Dr. JENNI SIDEY-GIBBONS: Yes, I know; pretty exciting, huh?  

Dr. ROBERTA BONDAR: Well, I understand, coming up here, that it's going to be less than four minutes before we're joined by David, on the Space Station. 

Dr. JENNI SIDEY-GIBBONS: Okay.  

Dr. ROBERTA BONDAR: I'm just really excited about that. I don't know about anybody else in the room but this is like so cool, and to be the 27th anniversary of my flight – memorable! 

Dr. JENNI SIDEY-GIBBONS: I know, it’s special. Stars aligning, huh?  

So, while we're waiting for David I have a few questions for you, if you would like. 

So, during your mission, was there anything that you saw that really had a lasting impression? Anything that touched you or shocked you? What was it like? 

Dr. ROBERTA BONDAR: Well, I must say that flying over Canada – and this sounds really kind of funny – but I had the Canadian national anthem and I remember hearing it being sung with a deep-throated voice while flying over Canada. And I must say that it brought tears to my eyes.  

And then I decided to do an experiment, with all the tears around my eyes. I shook my head and all the tears went out like little balls of water. So, that was kind of cool.  

Dr. JENNI SIDEY-GIBBONS: (laughter) – that's wonderful. That's fantastic; a little scientist at heart.  

Dr. ROBERTA BONDAR: (laughter)  

Dr. JENNI SIDEY-GIBBONS: I can't imagine seeing Canada from space for the first time. I don't know how it's going to affect me but I've heard, from David and from our other astronauts who have seen it, that it is pretty powerful. How do you think that changed you? What did it change about your life? 

Dr. ROBERTA BONDAR: One thing that I learned is that when we're in space – I don't know about everybody else, but I think for the most part we like looking at the planet, because looking away from the planet is what I call this light-sucking black. It's a black with no end. The start don't twinkle, because we're so far above the atmosphere, and the planet below has all these wonderful colours and patterns that we really can't appreciate when we're here, on the surface. We have different patterns.  

I think that kind of vision that this is a huge massive place – I mean, we don't see it like a blue marble because we're not up high enough, obviously, but the patterns we see at a distance, out the window, are quite extraordinary, and they change all the time, as seasons change, of course, but so does our view.  

Dr. JENNI SIDEY-GIBBONS: Wow; our changing planet.  

Can you tell us why you decided to join the Exploring Earth project? 

Dr. ROBERTA BONDAR: This is a very interesting project. I wish I had had the ability to have this when I was at the age you guys are, because to be able to look at a map of the world and to be able to click on it and then see some shots from space and find out about what is in that shot, and train our eyes the way we have to, as astronauts, to be able to look out the window, and see new things and to be curious about what is in them, it’s an extraordinary opportunity.  

And for the Foundation, we are very interested in migratory birds, so we have this Protecting Space for Birds project that we have aligned with the Exploring Earth of the Canadian Space Agency and the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, to put some of those migratory pathways that David hopefully will photograph from space as well. 

So, it is really coming together very, very nicely.  

Dr. JENNI SIDEY-GIBBONS: Wow! Dovetails well, huh? That's fantastic.  

Well, I think we're actually pretty much ready to speak to David. Hopefully we are connecting with him shortly. 

So, to start, what we're going to do is we're going to check the audio connection, to make sure that David can hear all of us well. That's really important. And keep in mind that there's going to be a slight delay in communication, so don't be surprised if David takes a few seconds to reply to your question or listen to what we're saying. It's just an audio delay, coming to the Space Station. 

We're about 20 seconds – and here, you see – this view is actually of Mission Control, in Johnson Space Center. This is where we're going to link up with David. So, this is like the brain on the ground, that is talking to David and the other astronauts, the whole time that they are in orbit.  

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SPEAKER: Space Station, this is Houston. Are you ready for the event? 

Dr. JENNI SIDEY-GIBBONS: Oh; look at that.  

DAVID SAINT-JACQUES: Houston, this is Station. I am ready.  

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SPEAKER: Canadian Space Agency, this is Mission Control, Houston. Please call Station for a voice check.  

Dr. JENNI SIDEY-GIBBONS: Station, this is Jenni Sidey-Gibbons, at the Canada Science and Technology Museum. How do you hear me? 

DAVID SAINT-JACQUES: Hello, Jenni! I've got you loud and clear! Ready to talk with you.  

Dr. JENNI SIDEY-GIBBONS: Wonderful. Hi, David. We are excited that you’re able to join us today and help launch Exploring Earth with Roberta Bondar. I am especially excited to hear both of your perspectives on seeing our beautiful planet from space. 

Dr. ROBERTA BONDAR: Hi, David! It's Roberta, here.  

DAVID SAINT-JACQUES: Thanks, Jenni. It’s an absolute pleasure to be with you today.  

Dr. ROBERTA BONDAR: So, David, we are interested, here, to learn about how you are looking out that Cupola. We saw pictures and a little video that you sent down – online, about opening the windows and letting the light come in. And then we have seen some pictures of you with the cameras. 

Are you finding it a little bit easier in space to take pictures, than down here, on the ground, with cumbersome ball heads and tripods?

DAVID SAINT-JACQUES: Yes, we can tell – hello, Roberta. Nice to speak to you. I know you're a seasoned photographer, keen photographer. You would love that Cupola. It is an amazing place to take photos from, and even the most giant lens weighs nothing, so you don't need a tripod at all. You can just leave them there and they stay. Actually, if they are long and heavy, then they tend to stay stable, so it actually helps.  

It is a wonderful place. It is my favourite moment of the day, when I open those window shutters in the morning and have the first view of the planet, and whenever I have a chance during the day, I float up there. And in the evening, when we close the shutters, I wave bye bye to our beautiful planet.  

Dr. ROBERTA BONDAR: Well, I want to thank you, David, for taking the images for our Protecting Space for Birds project. It’s really wonderful for us to be able to combine our surface photography with our helicopter work, and your space photography, because I understand even this past week you were able to photograph one of the targets – one of the many targets we have given you.  

DAVID SAINT-JACQUES: Yes. Thanks to a lot of people working hard on the ground. We've got good planning, good provision, good predictions of when we're going to fly over there, and I can show up, grab the camera and do my best to find the location and take a good photo. And if we're lucky – you know, we need good weather, of course, but eventually we will get through it.  

Dr. ROBERTA BONDAR: And do you find things are moving pretty quickly? I know that you're going very fast, up in space, but when you look at the planet do you have to plan like an orbit ahead of time or do you get enough warning that you get up there and maybe fight against something that is still about 1,200 kilometres away. How do you work that?  

DAVID SAINT-JACQUES: So, we get a heads-up about three, four minutes ahead of when the location is right underneath us. That is roughly when it appears over the horizon for us, so that's enough time. The trick, of course, is to be disciplined and keep your camera ready. We have this quiver of cameras in the Cupola with different lenses, and we're very disciplined in making sure the batteries are fully charged. There's a camera – there's – you know, a card for the photo is ready. So, we can just show up and go – start shooting.   

Dr. ROBERTA BONDAR: And do you have a favourite place that when you look out the window you feel very happy when you see it, and you know that in another few orbits you might be over it again, maybe just a different perspective? Is there some – like, a place that you really have liked looking at, because of the colour or the shape? 

DAVID SAINT-JACQUES: Well, of course, dear to my heart is the province of Quebec, where I was born and then grew up. And it's a funny quirk of timing; the first time I got a chance to speak with my family on the phone, we were flying over the province of Quebec, and it's easy to recognize from orbit because of the Gaspé Peninsula, a very nice shape, and the huge rocky areas to the north, so – and because it's kind of north on our trajectory, we had a grazing angle, so we spent quite a lot of time on northern areas of the planet. It sort of happens pretty often. So, that's my personal favourite, is whenever I can get a glance of the province I was from.  

Dr. ROBERTA BONDAR: David, I want to thank you, on behalf of the Roberta Bondar Foundation, for participating in our migratory bird project. Hopefully we’ll be able to show people the vast distances that birds also have to fly over the surface of our planet, across borders that they can't see, the way you can’t see them from space. So, we wish you well on your voyage and look forward to more of your photography, and more of your insight into how we live in space. Thank you so much, David. 

DAVID SAINT-JACQUES: Thank you, Roberta, for the opportunity to contribute. It's a beautiful project and – you know, we share this planet with many other species and we have a responsibility to share it – to be decent – you know, decent – if you want, roommates – with the other species on our planet.  

Dr. JENNI SIDEY-GIBBONS: Thank you, David. I mean, it's just exceptional that you can share your mission with us in this way. I know we're all pretty excited to hear about it.  

So, we actually have some students with us who are eager to ask you some questions, to learn more about Earth and what you're seeing from the Space Station.  

FARON: Hello. My name is Faron, and I go to Connaught Public School. When you look at Earth, what surprises you the most, and why?  

DAVID SAINT-JACQUES: Hi, Faron. Very good question. You know what I find most surprising? Well, first, Earth is incredibly beautiful, but that’s not surprising; I knew that. What I find most surprising is that most of Earth is not really habitable for humans. We think that Earth is very large—and it’s true, it is large—but most of Earth is oceans, and the part that’s not covered by oceans consists mainly of deserts and mountains. So the parts of Earth where humans can live represent a very small fraction of the planet. And then we see the very thin layer of atmosphere in which we live in the vacuum of space, and I am always struck by just how small and fragile the bubble in which humans live really is. We must take good care of it.  

JILLIAN TRAN: My name is Jillian Tran(ph), from La Vérendrye School, and I would like to ask you a question. Can you see natural disasters from the Space Station?  

DAVID SAINT-JACQUES: Yes, we can see disasters. For example, we can see flooding very easily, if the flooding is severe. I saw a major flood last week, in South America. We can see rivers that have overflowed their banks. We can also see volcanic eruptions. We can see the smoke coming out of erupting volcanos. I’d say those are the biggest disasters we can see from space.  

NIEVE: I’m Nieve(ph), from Connaught Public School. What do hurricanes and storms look like from space? 

DAVID SAINT-JACQUES: Hi, Nieve. When seen from space, a hurricane looks like a huge whirlpool. It’s like a cloud in the form of a white whirlpool with a hole in the middle, and the hole is the central depression, where the wind is the strongest. That’s hurricanes. We can also see storms. What is most beautiful is to see lightning at night. When we fly over a storm at night, it’s as if there are flashes appearing everywhere. It’s really, really extraordinarily beautiful to see. We see clouds above us, which are white, and, from time to time… poof, flashes of light appear inside the clouds.   

JUDITH: Hello. My name is Judith(ph), and I’m from La Vérendrye Catholic School. My question is: can you see the lights of big cities from the Space Station? 

DAVID SAINT-JACQUES: Hi, Judith. Yes, they’re very easy to see. At night, we can see all cities. And it’s very interesting, because during the day, it’s difficult to see the impact of humans on Earth—more difficult. But at night, it’s very easy, because of the lights everywhere, especially when we fly over a place like America or Europe or Asia.  We see the lights and all the cities. It’s very, very easy. I have fun trying to guess the cities by the outlines made by the lights. 

AIDAN: Hi. I’m Aidan(ph), from Connaught Public School. Can you see the Great Wall of China from the Space Station, or is that just a myth? 

DAVID SAINT-JACQUES: Very good question, Aidan. I asked myself the same question and I tried to see it, the Great Wall, but no, we couldn’t see it. Or at least I couldn’t see it. I think it’s because the Great Wall is not continuous. It’s just – it’s in small sections. It was never completed. They built it in small sections. So it’s like a dotted line, which is difficult to see from space. I haven’t been able to see it. Perhaps Roberta Bondar has seen it. You could ask her.  

TRISTAN: Hi. My name is Tristan(ph), and I’m from Saint-François-d'Assise School. My question is: can you see a big change in the planet between summer and winter?  

DAVID SAINT-JACQUES: Yes, Tristan. It’s very easy because of the snow, and it’s particularly impressive at night, when there’s a full moon. Because of the full moon, we can see everything – and when there’s a full moon, at night, we can see the snow, which is lit up and white, and Earth – the entire planet Earth is glowing white, even at night. It’s really amazing. 

RUSSELL: My name is Russell(ph), and I'm from Connaught Public School. What is your favourite thing on Earth to look at, from space? 

DAVID SAINT-JACQUES: Hey, Russell. The most beautiful, amazing thing I've seen from here is the northern lights. It's just so incredible. They are – it's like green lights dancing over the horizon. They are below us, of course, when we’re on the Space Station, so imagine; you're looking at the Earth at night and there's these – like green – it's like – it looks like green, fluorescent green smoke that is dancing over the Earth. It's just unbelievably beautiful. 

ADELE: Hi. I'm Adele(ph), from Saint-François-d'Assise Catholic School. Can you explain how you take photos of Earth from the Space Station? 

DAVID SAINT-JACQUES: Hi, Adele. Yes. So, we have this beautiful bay window we call the Cupola. It's like a half-sphere of glass, basically. We can go in there and look in every direction, and we just take a normal camera. We take a normal camera and take photos through the window. We have cameras with different – you know, size of lens, so we can take more zoomed-in photos. And that's how we do it. So, it's just like taking a photo on Earth. You've just got to – you know, adjust for the lighting and take the best shots that you can.  

TRISTAN: My name is Tristan(ph), and I’m from Saint-François-d'Assise School. Can you see borders from space? 

DAVID SAINT-JACQUES: Hi, Tristan. No, we can’t see borders from space. Perhaps we can – we may be able to guess where a border is, for example – where there is a country that has more lights in its cities or along its roads, than another, we can see the difference at night. For example, between North Korea and South Korea, at night it’s easy to see where the border is, because there are more lights in the streets in South Korea than in North Korea. So we see that there is a line, a difference in the number of lights that come from these two parts, but it’s very indirect. The border itself, no. Seen from space, we see that Earth, it’s a planet, and humans are just a group sharing the same planet. 

JADE: Hello, Mr. Saint-Jacques. My name is Jade(ph), and I’m from La Vérendrye School. I was wondering whether you can see the impact of climate change or pollution from space. Like smog over Beijing?  

DAVID SAINT-JACQUES: Hi, Jade. Yes, when there’s smog, we can see a sort of halo over the largest cities. We can see – which we can also see for climate change. We can compare the glaciers we see in the mountains with old photos of glaciers – the same glaciers. We can see that they have – that a lot of the glaciers have shrunk significantly because of global warming – because of climate change. Those are two effects that we can see quite easily. 

CLARA: Hi. My name is Clara(ph), and I go to Connaught Public School. Can you predict the weather just by looking at Earth? 

DAVID SAINT-JACQUES: I can see the current weather, but I’m not very good at predicting tomorrow’s weather. Of course, we may be able to see whether storms are approaching a country – a bit like when you listen to the weather forecast on the news, you know? There are large maps that show the clouds moving. Those are forecasts. We can have fun trying to do the same thing, but it’s very difficult. So, even when seen from space, it’s difficult to predict the weather. 

NEIL: Hi. My name is Neil(ph), from Connaught Public School. How do you recognize – 

DAVID SAINT-JACQUES: But, you know – I’ll just finish answering. You know we use satellites for –  

I'm sorry. I just wanted to complete – we use a lot of satellites to get images, and that's how the meteorologists make forecasts about the weather, so it's – ultimately, it comes from space.  

NEIL: Hi. My name is Neil(ph), from Connaught Public School. How do you recognize all the countries that you fly over?  

DAVID SAINT-JACQUES: Hi, Neil. This is a fun game to play, up here. If you go to the Cupola, you try to guess where you are. It's just a test of your knowledge of geography. And if you're really – for example, it's easy to recognize Italy, you know? It looks like a boot. It's easy for me to recognize parts of Canada, because I know it better than other places. If you don't know, then we have a computer nearby, that tells us with a map of the world, and it tells us where the Space Station is at every moment of time. So, then we can know where we are when we look down to the Earth. It's a little bit like Google Earth.  

ELLIOT: Hello. My name is Elliot(ph), from Connaught Public School, and I was wondering: Can you see monuments or buildings from space? And if yes, which one is the most visible? 

DAVID SAINT-JACQUES: Yes, we can see – you know, man-made – human-made buildings. So, the most easily recognizable things are airports. They are very, very big. They are near cities. It is very easy to see the big, major airports, from space. 

You can see – at night, you can see highways, because it's like straight lines of light. There are highways that have lights on them. That's also easy to see.  

You can tell bridges, sometimes, if they're big enough – again, at night, it's easier, if they have lights on.  

But I would say airports, definitely easy to see from space. They're very big human-made structures.  

HADLEY: Hi. My name is Hadley(ph), and I'm from Connaught Public School. Can you see planes from the Space Station? 

DAVID SAINT-JACQUES: Hello. So, we cannot see the actual planes, because they fly really, really low below us. But, you know, when you look – when you see planes in the sky, sometimes they leave a trail of – like of condensation behind them, a white – like a white trail of condensation. That we can see from space, of course. So, that's how we know there are airplanes flying below us. But we're about – you know, ten times higher than airplanes, here.  

NOAH: My name is Noah(ph), from Connaught Public School. Can you see small islands from space? 

DAVID SAINT-JACQUES: Islands? Yes, we can see islands. What I love about the small islands in the Pacific is that – do you know what an atoll is? Some islands have around them like a little high plateau, where the water is very shallow, and there's a lot of marine life. That is very easy to see. So, that kind of apron around the small islands is easy to see from space. It's beautiful, because it's typically some shade of turquoise colour, in the middle of the deeper blue of the ocean. They look like jewels, on the ocean. They are amazingly beautiful, those Pacific islands.  

MICHAELA: Hi. My name is Michaela(ph), from Connaught Public School. Can you see satellites from the Space Station? 

DAVID SAINT-JACQUES: So, we can see satellites the way you can see them. They just look like little stars that are moving. Thankfully, we cannot see them up-close because that would be very, very dangerous, because we are here, in space, travelling at eight kilometres every second, and so are they, travelling at eight kilometres every second, on a different orbit.  

So, there's a lot of scientists and engineers and mathematicians on the ground making sure that we will not collide with each other, and so we're all on different orbits, to make sure we never get near to each other.  

So, we can never see a satellite from up close, but we can see them in the distance, like a little star that moves. Sometimes we release satellites ourselves. Those, of course, we can see.  

Dr. JENNI SIDEY-GIBBONS: Sorry to cut you off there, David. Thank you for sharing that with us. We're just about out of time and I don't want to run over.  

So, I want to say thank you for sharing your mission with us, and we're looking forward to more pictures of that pale blue dot, from the rest of your time up there. And thank you for the amazing questions from our students. That was fantastic.  

--- (general applause) 

DAVID SAINT-JACQUES: Thanks, Jenni. Thanks, Dr. Bondar. Thanks for all the great questions.  

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SPEAKER: Space Station, this is Houston ACR. That concludes the event.  

Dr. JENNI SIDEY-GIBBONS: Wow! It was just in time.  

--- (general applause) 

Dr. JENNI SIDEY-GIBBONS: Well, thank you again for all of those phenomenal questions. I mean, I think we have some space fans here, which I am very happy to see. Again, I was once in your shoes.  

So, before we say goodbye, I want to thank again Dr. Roberta Bondar, and our wonderful partners, for joining us this morning.  

Students, teachers and people who followed online, thank you for participating. And I want to invite people to continue following the mission. You can find updates on what David is doing in space online all the time. Check out the Canadian Space Agency's website. 

So, thank you. Thank you. And now, I want to invite the students to stay in their seats while Roberta and I join you for a picture.

Thank you.

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