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Hadfield Prepares for Space

As a boy growing up on his father's farm just west of Toronto, nine-year-old Chris Hadfield was so spellbound by Neil Armstrong's historic moon walk on July 20, 1969, that he promptly decided to become an astronaut himself.

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Simon Fraser

Simon Fraser, explorer, fur trader (born 20 May 1776 in Mapletown, Hoosick Township, New York; died 18 August 1862 in St Andrews West, Canada West). Simon Fraser is best known for his exploration of the Fraser River.

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Lorenzo Ferrer Maldonado

Lorenzo Ferrer Maldonado, apocryphal navigator, adventurer (b in Spain; d 1625). In 1601 he submitted to King Philip III of Spain a document about his purported 1588 voyage through the NORTHWEST PASSAGE from east to west.

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Arthur Oliver Wheeler

Arthur Oliver Wheeler, surveyor, mountaineer (born at Lyrath, Ireland 1 May 1860; died at Banff, Alta 20 March 1945). Qualifying in 1881 as Ontario land surveyor, he also obtained Dominion (1882), Manitoba (1882), British Columbia (1891) and Alberta (1911) credentials.

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John Davis

John Davis (also spelled Davys), explorer, navigator (born ca. 1550 near Dartmouth, England; died 27 December 1605 off Bintan Island, near Singapore).

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François Dollier de Casson

François Dollier de Casson, explorer, superior of the Sulpicians in New France (1670-74, 1678-1701), seigneur of Montréal, vicar general, historian (b in the château of Casson-sur-l'Erdre in Lower Brittany 1636; d at Montréal 27 Sept 1701).

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Karlsefni

Thorfinn Karlsefni (Old Norse Þórfinnr Karlsefni), explorer and trader (born c. 980–95 CE in Iceland; year of death unknown). Born Thorfinn Thordarson, this Icelandic aristocrat and wealthy merchant ship owner led one of the Norse expeditions to Vinland, located in what is now Atlantic Canada. He is usually referred to by his nickname, Karlsefni, meaning “the makings of a man.” Karlsefni appears in several historical sources. A long passage in The Saga of the Greenlanders is devoted to him, and he is the chief subject of The Saga of Erik the Red. There are also short accounts in the Old Norse manuscripts known as the Arni Magnusson codex 770b and Vellum codex No. 192.

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Alejandro Malaspina

Alejandro Malaspina, explorer (b at Mulazzo, Italy 5 Nov 1754; d at Pontremoli, Italy 9 Apr 1810). Born to an illustrious but impoverished family, Malaspina entered the Spanish naval service. In 1784 he sailed around the world in the frigate Astrea.

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Robert Brent Thirsk

Robert (Bob) Brent Thirsk, biomedical engineer, astronaut (b at New Westminster, BC 17 Aug 1953). He studied mechanical engineering at the University of Calgary (BSc, 1976) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MSc, 1978), and he received an MD from McGill University in 1982.

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John Cabot

John Cabot (a.k.a. Giovanni Caboto), merchant, explorer (born before 1450 in Italy, died at an unknown place and date). In 1496, King Henry VII of England granted Cabot the right to sail in search of a westward trade route to Asia and lands unclaimed by Christian monarchs. Cabot mounted three voyages, the second of which, in 1497, was the most successful. During this journey Cabot coasted the shores of Newfoundland and Labrador, possibly sighted the Beothuk or Innu people of the region, and famously noted that the waters teemed with cod. At the time, the land Cabot saw was thought to be the eastern shore of Asia, the fabled island of Brasil, or the equally fabled Isle of Seven Cities. Cabot and his crew were the second group of Europeans to reach what would become Canada, following Norse explorers around 1000 CE. Despite not yielding the trade route Cabot hoped for, the 1497 voyage provided England with a claim to North America and knowledge of an enormous new fishery.

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Frederick William Beechey

Frederick William Beechey, naval officer, artist, explorer (b at London, Eng 17 Feb 1796; d there 29 Nov 1856). Beechey joined the British navy at the age of 10, and saw action at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815.

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Roald Amundsen

   Roald Amundsen, arctic explorer (b at Sarpsborg, Norway 16 July 1872; d between Norway and Spitsbergen 18 June 1928). Amundsen went to sea as a young man. Determined to navigate the NORTHWEST PASSAGE, he purchased the Gjoa, readied it for arctic waters and embarked in 1903.

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Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye

Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye, military officer, farmer, fur trader, explorer (born at Trois-Rivières, Quebec 17 November 1685; died at Montreal 5 December 1749). The expeditions organized by La Vérendrye and spearheaded by his sons were the first to open the country from Lake Superior to the lower Saskatchewan River and the Missouri River to the French fur trade. La Vérendrye is often portrayed as emblematic of the French-Canadianvoyageur and of French Manitoba in particular.

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Samuel Hearne

Samuel Hearne, explorer, fur trader, author, naturalist (born 1745 in London, England; died November 1792 in London, England).

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Henry Youle Hind

Henry Youle Hind, geologist, naturalist (b at Nottingham, Eng 1 June 1823; d at Windsor, NS 8 Aug 1908). Hind was educated at the Nottingham Free Grammar School, a Leipzig commercial college, and Caius College, Cambridge, but graduated from neither of the latter.

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Charles Francis Hall

Charles Francis Hall, Arctic explorer (b in Vermont 1821; d in Greenland 8 Nov 1871). An engraver by trade, Hall was fascinated by accounts of the search for Sir John FRANKLIN and in 1860, as a private citizen, he went by whaling ship to Baffin I.

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Bernhard Hantzsch

Bernhard Adolf Hantzsch, explorer, ornithologist (d near the mouth of Hantzsch R, NWT June 1911). Hantzsch sailed with a German ornithological expedition to the eastern Arctic in 1906 and during that summer explored and collected specimens along the coast of Ungava Bay and northern Labrador.