Summer 2007 - The Alpine Club of Canada

Alpine Club memento to make space fl ight
BY LYNN MARTEL
Toothbrush? Check.
Spacesuit? Check.
Alpine Club of Canada patch? Check.
When Canadian Astronaut Dave
Williams boards NASA’s
Endeavour Space Shuttle on
June 28, he’ll blast into space with a piece
of Canada’s mountaineering history.
Like his six colleagues aboard the STS
118 shuttle mission, Williams was invited
to pack 10 mementos from organizations
of signifi cance to him. Th inking of his
father, an early ACC member, Williams
requested the ACC send him a patch
commemorating the Club’s 2006
Centennial.
“My father was a member in the
1930s to early 40s,” Williams said. “I’ve
always been an outdoors person, I guess
I come by that honestly through my dad.
Growing up in Saskatchewan I spent
a lot of time playing in the woods, as a
teenager I was really into cross country
and downhill skiing, and canoeing and
kayaking.”
Although not an ACC member,
Williams, who lives in Houston, Texas
with his wife and two children, said
mountaineers and astronauts share similar
passion, curiosity and the drive to explore.
“One of the things I’m very passionate
about is exploration,” Williams said,
speaking from Houston’s Johnson Space
Center. “Th e quest for knowledge for
26 Alpine Club of Canada ● Gazette ● SUMMER 2007
astronauts is very much like that of
climbers wanting to know what it’s like at
the top of a mountain – or the top of the
world, like climbing Everest.”
Williams, 53, remembers his dad
showing him 8mm fi lm footage of
climbing and skiing BC’s Mount
Garibaldi in 1939 – fl ying from Vancouver
and landing on a lake “in an aircraft that
resembled a giant fl ying boat.”
Williams’s own interest in space fl ight
developed during the 1960s, when he
watched television broadcasts as the fi rst
manned spacecrafts explored beyond the
earth’s orbit.
“It was just after they hired the
original seven Mercury astronauts,”
Williams said. “Like just about everyone,
I watched it on TV, and thought ‘wouldn’t
it be cool to go in space?’”
While Canada was the third country
to launch an unmanned satellite into
space, programs for Canadians to
experience space travel didn’t exist.
“As a Canadian kid, I never thought
I’d have a chance,” Williams said. “So
I fi gured, if I can’t explore outer space,
maybe I should learn how to SCUBA
dive so I can explore inner space.”
At the time, Jacques Cousteau
was also at the top of the TV ratings,
exploring deep below the surface of the
world’s oceans. Williams earned his
SCUBA certifi cation before he could
drive. After graduating from Montréal’s
✦ HERITAGE CLUB ✦ HERITAGE CLUB ✦ HERITAGE CLUB ✦ HERITAGE CLUB ✦ HERITAGE CLUB ✦
HERITAGE CLUB ✦ HERITAGE CLUB ✦ HERITAGE CLUB
Heritage Club milestones
Every year, the Alpine Club of Canada celebrates those members who
have been with the Club for 25, 35 and 50 years. Th e Club recognizes
these members with a special lapel pin, with the 25 and 35-year
members receiving an attractive certifi cate suitable for framing and the 50year
members receiving a handsome wall plaque.
In 2007, 32 members reached the 25-year milestone, 18 members reached
the 35-year milestone and 3 members reached their 50-year milestone.
Congratulations to everyone, and especially to all of those named below
– you are in very esteemed company!
50 years
Morrin Acheson, Samedan Switzerland
John Christian, Bethesda Maryland
Francois Garneau, Chicoutimi Quebec
✦ HERITAGE CLUB ✦ HERITAGE CLUB ✦ HERITAGE CLUB ✦ HERITAGE CLUB ✦ HERITAGE CLUB ✦.
HERITAGE CLUB ✦ HERITAGE CLUB ✦ HERITAGE CLUB
Astronaut Dave Williams PHOTO COURTESY OF NASA
McGill University with a science degree,
he pursued a distinguished career in
medicine, focusing on scientifi c research,
and as an emergency physician.
In 1992 the Canadian Space Agency
selected Williams and three others
from 5330 applicants to begin astronaut
training. In 1998 he made his fi rst trip
into space as a mission specialist aboard
Space Shuttle Columbia. During the
16-day fl ight, the seven-person crew’s
experiments focused on the eff ects
of microgravity on the brain and the
nervous system as Columbia orbited the
earth 256 times, covering over 10 million
kilometres in 381 hours.
From 1998 to 2002, Williams was
the fi rst non-American to hold a senior
management position within NASA as
director of the Space and Life Sciences
Directorate at the Johnson Space Center.
In 2001, Williams became the fi rst
Canadian to have lived and worked in
both space and the ocean, through his
participation in the joint NASA-NOAA
(National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration) NEEMO 1 mission,
a week-long training exercise aboard
Aquarius, the world’s only underwater
research laboratory. During his second,
18-day NEEMO mission, the crew
conducted research aimed at delivering
medical care in remote locations – a
cost eff ective means of developing space
technology.
For his upcoming mission, Williams
will make three space walks of six or
seven hours’ duration each, installing
elements to further construction of the