Mr. Speaker, on Thursday, April 19, 2001, at 2.41 p.m. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield and his six companions rocketed into space aboard space shuttle Endeavour . In its cargo bay was Canadarm2.
Yesterday, Colonel Hadfield became the first Canadian to walk in space. At the end of his sortie, the space station remote manipulator system, better known as Canadarm2, had been deployed. Today it is being tested.
This next generation robotic arm, the most advanced of its kind, is the product of more than a decade of dedicated application by Canadian scientists and technicians at MacDonald Dettwiler Robotics and at the Canadian Space Agency.
I want to congratulate all involved in preparing and executing Mission STS-100 on a job well done. We are proud of Chris Hadfield and all our Canadian astronauts.