The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, announced the finalist candidates to be Canada’s next two astronauts on April 24 in Toronto. Among them is Dr. Robert Riddell (MD’11), a Dal medicine grad and physician in the Canadian Armed Forces. There were originally nine Dalhousie alumni in the running to be astronauts out of the larger pool of 72 candidates.

The remaining seventeen candidates move forward into the final round of assessments in the Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) Astronaut Recruitment Campaign. CSA will select the successful two out of this group by the summer to begin training as astronauts.

This video published earlier in the month showcases the 32 candidates going through the second series of aptitude tests in their pursuit of becoming an astronaut.

Read more in the Government of Canada press release, “Seventeen finalists compete to be Canada’s next two astronauts” on canada.ca.