Julie Payette
McGill graduates are ambassadors for Montreal and Canada, whether they’re on Earth and off. Three McGill graduates have travelled to the International Space Station as astronauts with the Canadian Space Agency:
Julie Payette (BEng’86, DSc’03),
Robert Thirsk (MDCM’82) and
Dave Williams (BSc’76, MDCM’83, MSc’83, DSc’07). A fourth grad,
David Saint-Jacques (MedResident ’07) is scheduled to blast off in 2018.
William Shatner
And, of course, there’s Earth’s most storied spaceman, who explored the furthest reaches of the galaxy without ever leaving a Hollywood soundstage: Captain
James T. Kirk. (But his 1952 McGill diploma reads “
William Shatner.”)Ěý