Previously unknown facts about Roberta Bondar: She is most proud of her medical degree, which she used to save her father’s life. She threw up 37 times after returning from Space. She nearly shunned medical school to get married and become a pharmacist, but was told by her PhD supervisor she was marrying the wrong person.

Dr. Bondar, Canada’s first female astronaut and the first neurologist in Space,  revealed these tidbits of information and more during a talk to area students and community leaders at the Hinton Centre on Oct. 7, speaking of the need for leadership and the role of change in advancing and enriching one’s life.

Having earned 24 honourary degrees, she has six schools named after her. She was praised as a leader and pioneer in Canada’s space program.

Bondar, spoke at the community celebration dinner in Hinton on Oct. 7, highlighting the need for new ways of thinking to overcome problems on earth.

Twenty-six students, including six from Jasper were given an exclusive question and answer session with Bondar, where they quizzed her about her challenges and experiences as an astronaut and doctor.   She spoke about her time as a little girl growing up in Sault Ste. Marie, where the foundations of space travel were laid. Having decided she wanted to be an astronaut,  she also learned about leadership, and passed that knowledge on to the students.

“The mark of a good leader is to control your fear. You must provide strength, as people need someone strong in their life,” Bondar said.

That strength also comes from new challenges.

“A lot of people hide in the Space program from other things, because they’re afraid of other challenges,” Bondar said, noting many in NASA are in need of greater communication tools.

Bondar said her most memorable moment in space was flying over her home country, while listening to O Canada. Travelling at eight times the speed of sound, flying over Canada only takes two minutes at 300 kilometres above space, and sunrises and sunsets are visible every 90 minutes.

“You’re looking at the limbs of the earth and that affected my photography,” Bondar said.

She also said there is a great unfamiliarity in Space.

“The stars don’t twinkle, so it looks so cold,” Bondar said. “One sees great beauty, but one can’t touch it. Earth is the place you can touch it.”

She also noted the troubles of space travel.

“Gravity is underrated as a force,” Bondar said. “It takes as many days as you were up to recover.”

Those challenges include blood and bone loss, as some astronauts continue to lose bone mass well after they’ve returned to earth. That has been used to learn more about osteoporosis, and space travel has advanced several breakthroughs in the field.

Bondar justifies space travel as a method of discovery, a method of solving problems that have yet to be discovered. Yet while she promotes new challenges, she emphasized that there must be thought and planning behind those challenges.

“There are a lot of astronauts who say they’ll go to Mars tomorrow. That’s the last person I want to fly with,” noting there must be respect for the challenges at hand.

On the same day that Bondar delivered the talk, fellow Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau was named the federal liberal party’s representative in Quebec. When asked if she considered life in politics, the former astronaut bristled.

“If I went into politics, I’d have to get a lobotomy,” noting that none of the current leaders have the vision to unite the country. She said she’s doing more for the country by spreading her knowledge from coast to coast.

In terms of travelling to Mars, Bondar said space programs must first return to the moon, and notes there is an entirely new debate surfacing around ethical space travel in terms of allowing countries that don’t have access to space to participate. While corporations continue to push their own private space programs, the need for peaceful, ethical space travel is required.

“We have to ask are we spending money wisely,” noting that she has reservations about the international space station. “Scientists should be creative, not solving business plans.