An astrolabe in orbit

Even after 40 years, space exploration still captures the imagination: some dream of flying into orbit while others dread catastrophe, yet everyone would like to someday get the chance to touch the stars and to view our tiny Earth from up there. Canadian astronaut Julie Payette is among the lucky few for whom that dream is reality. You already know about her training and her key role in the current mission; but now it’s her luggage in the spotlight.

A big country in a little bag

Since space exploration began, astronauts have taken all kinds of symbolic objects up to the stars. This practice is indeed highly regulated: dimensions and weight are limited and the resale of objects upon return is not permitted. The idea is to support certain causes, to recognize the importance of some organizations, to honour someone’s college, city, or country.

A hockey jersey signed by ‘The Rocket’; a raw diamond from the Northwest Territories, drops of water from the Great Lakes and the three oceans bordering Canada; a small silver spoon from the University of Toronto’s Massey College… and a replica of the Champlain astrolabe contributed by the Canadian Museum of Civilization – these are just some of the treasures that launched into space on July 15th aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour.

Champlain in the stars

So why an astrolabe? Used as a navigational tool by the great explorers, the astrolabe has an outer disk with the circumference marked in degrees and a movable pointer in the center. Along with an astronomical table, navigators used astrolabes to calculate latitude based on the position of the sun or pole star.

It is believed that the famous explorer and cartographer lost the astrolabe during a portage up the rapids of the Outaouais River in around 1613. Found near Cobden, Ontario in 1867 – the year of confederation – it made its way to the New York Historical Society who finally returned it to Canada when the new Museum opened in 1989. The astrolabe is now at the heart of the history of Canada and represents one of the most distinguished pieces in the permanent collection of the Canadian Museum of Civilization.

The Champlain astrolabe was a natural choice for Julie Payette, given its symbolic power and historical significance for Canada. But the original was too large (19 x 14.5 x 3.1 cm) and too valuable to be sent into space. So the Canadian Museum of Civilization turned to Dave Dean, exhibit display preparator at the Canadian War Museum, to fashion a more portable replica. Made of brass like the original, it is a perfect representation of even the original markings, reproduced through photo-engraving.

The STS-127 space mission signifies a meeting of two great explorers: one that helped shape Canada as we know it and one who is part of the first permanent installation to float above our heads. It just goes to show our dreams of great space never fade.

So then, what would you take to the stars?