Quebec man reaching for the stars in final stretch of astronaut tryouts

The next two astronauts to be selected this summer by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) could be a marine geologist and an emergency room physician and trauma specialist.

Or they could be a manager of a bomb disposal robot program coupled with a physician-scientist in exercise medicine.

Or maybe a test pilot alongside James Veilleux, a 35-year-old systems engineer in optical instruments from Notre-Dame-des-Pins in the Beauce region.

Veilleux is one of the 72 finalists chosen by the CSA out of a field of 3,772 candidates.

"As long ago as I can remember, I was looking up at the stars," he said in an interview with Quebec AM.

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He's hoping to follow in the footsteps of 12 other former or current Canadian astronauts.

"When I was growing up, being an astronaut was actually a job that you could think of doing. It wasn't like that for (former astronauts) Marc Garneau and Chris Hadfield, but for people my age, it was a possibility."

Aspiring astronaut works with robotics

Veilleux works in Quebec City as a systems engineer with ABB, a world-wide company specializing in robotics and digital technology, and his work already brings him into contact with the space industry.

"We actually build some optical instruments that we install on Canadian satellites — one of them is called SCISAT. And we've also installed them on U.S.weather satellites orbiting the earth right now," he said.

According to the CSA, the SCISAT monitors changes to the ozone layer, with a special focus on changes occurring over Canada and the Arctic.

"I've actually worked on some of the hardware. We did the design, I worked personally on the testing, so I know how careful you have to be with some of that hardware."

Veilleux has also worked internationally on Japanese projects and others with NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Tough tryout ahead

There is stringent testing still ahead before the CSA makes its decision, but Veilleux is hopeful and prepared.

"The most fantastic of course would be to have the chance either to go to the moon or to Mars because these are the exploration-class missions and these are actually going to start in the next few years," Veilleux said.

"There's a new rocket being built by NASA and a new capsule, called Orion. We don't know if Canadians will have a chance to go on these missions, but it's exciting to have the future prospect of going to either the moon or Mars."

Veilleux says it's easy to be skeptical about the value of putting money into space exploration because people don't necessarily see the innovation the industry has brought to everday life.

"If you use satellite imagery to find your way around the city, or look at it to show how the world works with your children, or just to have improved safety because of the telecommunications satellites in orbit around the earth — those are all things now in day-to-life."

The selected candidate will be heading to the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas to begin what will be several years of intense training.

Quebec astronaut set to blast off in 2018

The next Canadian in line for a mission is David Saint-Jacques, a doctor who used to work in Puvirnituq, on Quebec's Hudson's Bay coast.

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He was selected for the astronaut program in 2009 and graduated from Astronaut Candidate Training, which included International Space Station (ISS) systems and procedures, spacewalks, robotics, flight training, field geology training, Russian language, and wilderness summer, winter and water survival training.

He's now getting ready for a NASA mission to the ISS, slated for launch in November 2018.