On today’s date in 1995, the Radarsat-1 earth observation satellite – the first non-communication satellite launched by Canada since 1971 – was launched aboard a Delta-II at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
The observation satellite was developed under the management of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) in co-operation with Canada’s provincial governments and the private sector. Its images of the Earth are used for scientific as well as marketing purposes and can assist a variety of industries, including agriculture, cartography, hydrology, forestry, oceanography, geology, ice and ocean monitoring, and Arctic surveillance, among other things.
SPACE STAMPS
This cover produced by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Stamp Club in Greenbelt, Mary., was cancelled on the day of the Radarsat-1 launch.
In 2003, as part of its eight-stamp Canadian Astronauts series, Canada Post issued a 48-cent stamp (Scott #1999a) featuring eight Canadian astronauts. Printed by the Lowe-Martin Group on Tullis Russell coated paper, this stamp has General (Ottawa) Tagging. It had a print run of 750,000 stamps.
Each of the series’ eight stamps were designed by Pierre-Yves Pelletier, who used spherical shapes to evoke the path of an orbit. Depicted on the stamp is a twinkling star, which is found on the Canadian Space Agency’s logo and represents a “productive, energy-producing star, believed to have influence over human destiny,” according to Canada Post. “Its twinkling appearance is the result of holographic hot stamping and micro-embossing.”
Alongside each astronaut is a highlight of his or her mission while the back of the stamp pane provides brief descriptions. The bottom of the pane illustrates the “Canadian space handshake” of 2001, when the Canadarm2 on the International Space Station transferred its launching cradle to the Canadarm on the shuttle Endeavour, with astronaut Chris Hadfield at the controls.
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