Canadian Space Agency

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) (French: Agence spatiale canadienne; ASC) was established by the Canadian Space Agency Act which received Royal Assent on May 10, 1990. The president of the agency is Sylvain Laporte who reports to the Minister of Industry. He was appointed as president on February 27, 2015 effective March 9, 2015.

The headquarters of the CSA is located at the John H. Chapman Space Centre in Saint-Hubert, Quebec. The agency also has offices in Ottawa, Ontario, at the David Florida Laboratory (which is mainly an engineering installation), and small liaison offices in Washington, Paris, Cape Canaveral, and Houston.

History, mission and mandate

The origins of the Canadian upper atmosphere and space program may be traced back to the end of the Second World War. Between 1945 and 1960, Canada undertook a number of small launcher and satellite related projects under the aegis of defence research, including the development of the Black Brant rocket as well as series of advanced studies examining both orbital rendezvous and re-entry. In 1957, scientists and engineers at the Canadian Defence Research Telecommunications Establishment (DRTE) under the leadership of John H. Chapman embarked on a project initially known simply as S-27 or the Topside Sounder Project. This work would soon lead to the development of Canada's first satellite known as Alouette 1.

Astronaut

An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft. Although generally reserved for professional space travelers, the terms are sometimes applied to anyone who travels into space, including scientists, politicians, journalists, and tourists.

Starting in the 1950s up to 2002, astronauts were sponsored and trained exclusively by governments, either by the military or by civilian space agencies. With the suborbital flight of the privately funded SpaceShipOne in 2004, a new category of astronaut was created: the commercial astronaut.

Definition

The criteria for what constitutes human spaceflight vary. The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) Sporting Code for astronautics recognizes only flights that exceed an altitude of 100 kilometers (62 mi). In the United States, professional, military, and commercial astronauts who travel above an altitude of 50 miles (80 km) are awarded astronaut wings.

Astronauts (band)

Astronauts is the solo musical project of the UK songwriter, Dan Carney. He is signed to London-based imprint Lo Recordings.

History

Carney initially conceived the project in 2013, following the end of his previous band Dark Captain, and while recuperating from a badly broken leg. After the first Astronauts songs were uploaded to Soundcloud in November 2013, a deal was signed with Lo Recordings.

The debut Astronauts single, "Skydive", was released in June 2014, receiving support from BBC Radio 6 Music's Tom Ravenscroft,Gideon Coe,Cerys Matthews, and Steve Lamacq, as well as BBC Radio Scotland’s Roddy Hart, and Huey Morgan on BBC Radio 2, earning Carney comparisons with Elliott Smith,Broken Bells, and The Shins, and making the Hype Machine charts. The video for the song was devised and directed by London-based Irish artist Michelle Deignan.

The debut album, Hollow Ponds, named after an area of Epping Forest near where Carney lives, and was hospitalized following his leg fracture, was released in July 2014. The collection featured musical contributions from Firestations' Michael Cranny (who co-authored a number of tracks), London alt-folk singer Jess Bryant and cellist Nicole Robson (Bat For Lashes, Stats), with Sputnik Music describing the sound as “often bleak and highly contemplative indie-folk”.

Astronauts (TV series)

Astronauts was a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 26 October 1981 to 23 August 1983. It was written by Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie, two of The Goodies. Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, who wrote Porridge, were script editors. It was made for the ITV network by Witzend for ATV, which became Central midway through the production run.

Cast

Plot

The three primary characters are sent into outer space to occupy a space station for six months. They take with them a dog, a collection of white mice and some insects. The dog, Bimbo, had previously appeared in The Goodies. The astronauts' names are Malcolm Mattocks, Gentian Foster and David Ackroyd, whilst the astronauts' contact at Mission Control is Beadle, an American. The humour was primarily based on the claustrophobic conditions of the two-room "sky lab" and the consequent tensions.

Trousers

Trousers (pants in North America) are an item of clothing worn from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately (rather than with cloth extending across both legs as in robes, skirts, and dresses).

In the UK the word "pants" generally means underwear and not trousers.Shorts are similar to trousers, but with legs that come down only to around the area of the knee, higher or lower depending on the style of the garment. To distinguish them from shorts, trousers may be called "long trousers" in certain contexts such as school uniform, where tailored shorts may be called "short trousers", especially in the UK.

In most of the Western world, trousers have been worn since ancient times and throughout the Medieval period, becoming the most common form of lower-body clothing for adult males in the modern world, although shorts are also widely worn, and kilts and other garments may be worn in various regions and cultures. Breeches were worn instead of trousers in early modern Europe by some men in higher classes of society. Since the mid-20th century, trousers have increasingly been worn by women as well. Jeans, made of denim, are a form of trousers for casual wear, now widely worn all over the world by both sexes. Shorts are often preferred in hot weather or for some sports and also often by children and teenagers. Trousers are worn on the hips or waist and may be held up by their own fastenings, a belt or suspenders (braces). Leggings are form-fitting trousers, of a clingy material, often knitted cotton and spandex (elastane).

Canadian wine

Canadian wine is produced in mainly southern British Columbia and southern Ontario. There is also a growing number of small scale producers of grapes and wine in southern Quebec and Nova Scotia. The three largest wine-producing regions in Canada are the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, the Niagara Peninsula of Ontario, and in Essex County, Ontario (including Pelee Island). Other wine-producing areas in British Columbia include the Similkameen valley, the Fraser Valley region near Vancouver, southern Vancouver Island, the Creston Valley, in the Kootenay area and the Gulf Islands. Other areas in Ontario include Prince Edward County.

The Canadian wine industry also vinifies imported grapes and juice. These products are labeled Cellared in Canada and are not required to conform to the strict Vintners Quality Alliance content regulations.

Icewine, which can be produced reliably in most Canadian wine regions, especially the Okanagan Valley, is the most recognized product on an international basis. Canada produced 75.9 million litres of wine in 2002 (0.3% of world production).

Culture of Canada

Canadian culture is a term that embodies the artistic, culinary, literary, humour, musical, political and social elements that are representative of Canada and Canadians. Throughout Canada's history, its culture has been influenced by European culture and traditions, especially British and French, and by its own indigenous cultures. Over time, elements of the cultures of Canada's immigrant populations have become incorporated into mainstream Canadian culture. The population has also been influenced by American culture because of a shared language, proximity and migration between the two countries.

Canada is often characterized as being "very progressive, diverse, and multicultural". Canada's federal government has often been described as the instigator of multicultural ideology because of its public emphasis on the social importance of immigration. Canada's culture draws from its broad range of constituent nationalities, and policies that promote a just society are constitutionally protected. Canadian Government policies—such as publicly funded health care; higher and more progressive taxation; outlawing capital punishment; strong efforts to eliminate poverty; an emphasis on cultural diversity; strict gun control; and most recently, legalizing same-sex marriage—are social indicators of Canada's political and cultural values.Canadians identify with the countries institutions of health care, military peacekeeping, the National park system and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.