WWW.SPACE.CA UPDATE

A newly revamped edition of the Canadian Space Guide will be on-line shortly. The Guide includes the latest industry update and the ability to search through Canadian Space News and the Industry Guide. Remember to check by www.space.ca for updates on Marc Garneau's flight aboard STS-77 in the days to come.

NEWS BRIEFS

STS-77 SET FOR LAUNCH MAY 19TH

STS-77, to be launched this weekend, will be Marc Garneau's 2nd flight, this time as Mission Specialist. The launch is slated for 06:30 am May 19th and will last approximately 10 days. The flight includes a number of Canadian experiments on board both in the SpaceHab (attached) module and in the shuttle payload bay. The experiments include the Commercial Float Zone Furnace, the Aquatic Research Facility and NANO-GAS Getaway Special. More details can be found at www.space.ca/sts77.html as well as the Canadian Astronaut Program's web site.

STUDENT EXPERIMENTS CHOSEN FOR STS-77 AND 78

Industry Minister John Manley announced May 6th the winners of a contest for students to propose Astronaut run experiments for upcoming shuttle flights. Two group entries from Marc Garneau Collegiate (Don Mills, Ont.) and College Park (Saskatoon, Sask.) were chosen for STS-77. The contest is part of CSA's new Young Space Scientists Program.

RADARSAT INTERNATIONAL SIGNS NEW AGREEMENTS

RADARSAT International this month announced new RADARSAT data distribution agreements with:

• Alaska Remote Sensing and Cartographic Services for distribution rights in the United States excluding U.S. Federal Government Agencies
• PT Bhumi Prasaja of Bandung, Indonesia for distribution in Indonesia
• Chang Woo, Inc. of Seoul, Republic of Korea for distribution in Korea

SPAR SHARES TAKE A HIT

Investors reacted to bad news issued at Spar's Annual meeting on Thursday. Spar's results for the quarter were a $5 million loss and the company suspended dividend payments for the year. Shares today (Friday, May 17th) closed at $12.30 down from $18.00 on Wednesday.

MIM LAUNCHED TO MIR SPACE COMPLEX

The Microgravity Isolation Mount (MIM) was successfully sent aloft to the Mir Space Complex aboard a Russian launcher on April 23rd. MIM was packaged in the Priroda Module, the last module to complement the Mir Complex. Priroda was docked to the Mir station on April 26th and later repositioned on the 27th. The MIM is a facility to house experiments that require (or can benefit from) a finer degree of isolation from fine level vibrations in the space station environment.

TELESAT ANNOUNCES PLANS TO LAUNCH 4 DBS SATELLITES

Telesat announced it has entered into an agreement with Tele-Communications Inc. and is concluding plans with TelQuest Ventures for the launch of four new Canadian-owned Direct Broadcast Satellites. These satellites will typically be used for Direct to Home services such as DirecTV. The first satellite which will be in place later this year.

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