Canadarm

A source of national pride, an essential part of the American Space Shuttles and a developing platform for the future; the Canada Arm (or Canadarm for short) is all of this and more. Initially skeptical, NASA was heesitant to entrust such a vital part of the Shuttle program to Canada but in 1975 decided that it was the best choice.
By April 1981, the first Canadarm was delivered to NASA and a contract was signed for the purchase of at least three more. The arms were used for a variety of tasks during its service. In December of 1993 the arm helped American astronauts repair the Hubble telescope by supporting the men on five space walks and taking the telescope in and out of shuttle Endeavour’s bay. Since 1998 the arm has been used in over 10 Space Station Assembly missions. The Canadarm can put components in place and support spacewalking construction workers. During one emergency, the arm was used to dislodge a piece of ice clogging a shuttle’s waste vent. In more lighthearted missions the Canada Arm was used as a filming platform to take beautiful footage of space to make available to the public.

Canadarm2 was developed and placed on the International Space Station in April 2001. To date the two arms are considered one of the greatest Canadian achievements in space.

Sources:

http://ieee.ca/millennium/canadarm/canadarm_home.html

http://library.thinkquest.org/C0126120/canadaArm.htm

http://ieee.ca/millennium/canadarm/canadarm_technical.html

http://www.space.gc.ca/asc/eng/exploration/canadarm/default.asp

http://www.space.gc.ca/asc/eng/exploration/canadarm/introduction.asp