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Down to Earth
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With a new photography book and cross-Canada exhibit, former astronaut Roberta Bondar launches yet another career
By Janice Biehn When Roberta Bondar was photographing a national park in the Arctic, she almost didn’t make it out alive. “The plane landed on an ice-covered fjord,” says Bondar, recalling with a bit of a shudder. “I got out of the plane with all the equipment and started sliding. The Parks guide grabbed on to a tree, then grabbed the tripod I was holding, and pulled me up. Nothing that dramatic happened when I was in the Space Program. We did a lot of sitting around in meetings.”
Today Bondar looks more like she’s on a curling team, as she sweeps the snow out of the way of an elderly neighbour. At 55, Bondar’s résumé is already overflowing — neurologist, first Canadian woman in space, Officer of the Order of Canada, member of the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame, pilot, scuba diver, parachutist, the list goes on. With the publication of Passionate Vision: Discovering Canada’s National Parks, and the accompanying touring exhibit, Bondar adds professional photographer to her list of accomplishments, and proves she’s multi-faceted.
Bondar’s first career was physician (in fact she still goes in to North York General Hospital every week to keep her skills up), and as a doctor, she knows the importance of being in good health. Like most people, she has to contend with familial traits such as high blood pressure. “I haven’t had salt in my diet for 18 years. My Masters thesis was on the effect of augmented salt diets.” Bondar is also worried about osteoporosis, so does plenty of weight-bearing exercise, and has annual visits to her family doctor, dermatologist (to check for skin changes) and dentist. “If you’re in space, you can’t have a problem with your teeth.”
Bondar’s lifetime fitness level reads up and down like an ECG. “In high school I won all kinds of athletics awards. And in university, I played on the varsity basketball team and was the captain of the archery team. Fitness was always part of my life.” But when Bondar entered medical school, ironically, her fitness level slipped to an all-time low. “The hours were so strenuous and long, and I could never get enough sleep.”
By the time Bondar entered the Space Program, her fitness level had improved, but she had to bulk up. “The astronaut program was very much a macho mindset: who could run the fastest. But I also knew as the only women on the mission, I was physically the weakest link. I did not have the same muscle capacity as the men, so I made sure I had the minimum requirements for safety. You had to be able to run with a full-flight suit on, which weighed about 75 to 100 pounds.”
To that end, Bondar had to ensure she could perform the bail-out procedure. “The shuttle is designed for men to get out of,” she recalls. “It requires upper body strength to pull yourself up out of the shuttle. Unlike men, women have most of their strength in their lower body.” She gained eight pounds during her training, which included tennis, cycling and canoeing. “It allowed me to get back to my fitness roots.”
In September 1992, Bondar left the Space Program and continued her research at Ryerson Polytechnic University and the University of Western Ontario. When the government grant was not renewed in 1997, she decided to combine two of her other loves—photography and Canada—into a new career. It was hardly a new hobby: she has always nurtured an interest in photography and studied it at California’s famed Brooks Institute in 1996.
The two-and-a-half year photography project, an odyssey really, took her to all corners of Canada. The objective? To expose Canadians to the far reaches of the country that few have seen. Much the same way American photographer Ansel Adams photographed Yosemite and Yellowstone National Parks in the early part of the last century, Bondar captured Canada’s national parks in their purest state. The resulting landscape and close-up photography is shockingly beautiful.
Lugging around heavy photography equipment, shooting from helicopters and exploring unknown, untrodden terrain, required a whole different level of fitness. “No amount of physical training would have taken the place of training with the backpack on, carrying all the equipment and practising loading and unloading film.” In fact, after an ankle injury she sustained in the Georgian Bay Islands, Bondar is stuck wearing orthotics now in both shoes, and has had to stop jogging.
Despite that injury, Bondar continues to work out in her home gym. She walks on a commercial grade treadmill and rides a stationary bike, and regularly works out with free weights. “There’s a competitive nature at gyms that I don’t like. People are always very curious about how you’re operating. I like privacy.”
Bondar’s health regime doesn’t end with exercise. Her diet is also low-fat, high-fibre. “I don’t like eating out much,” she says, adding she only occasionally eats beef, pork or lamb. “Mostly it’s chicken, fish and shrimp.” Bondar also drinks skim milk only, and eschews coffee and refined sugar. However, she does have her indulgences — two to three glasses of wine a week, or for a special treat, a glass of Port and some Stilton cheese. “I love dark chocolate, too,” she admits.
Adequate sleep is another key factor to personal health, says Bondar. “I like to get between seven and eight hours a night to feel good.” However, in publishing Passionate Vision, Bondar harkened back to her med school days, clocking many sleepless nights in a row. “Two or three nights with only six hours sleep? I get tired.”
Bondar has set her sights on a new photography project, still linked to Canadian landscape. Retirement is probably unlikely for Bondar, but she offers this advice to people as they grow older: “Assess your risk within your family for certain health problems. There are certain things you can do in your environment to reduce other risks, and then establish your baseline fitness level. Fitness is as important to your retirement as your savings. Maintaining your fitness and eating properly is an investment in your retirement.”
The exhibit Passionate Vision by the Canadian Museum of Nature, will be traveling to London, Sault Ste. Marie and Montreal through 2001. Check www.passionatevision.com for tour details. Passionate Vision: Discovering Canada’s National Parks is published by Douglas & MacIntyre and is available at bookstores across Canada.
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