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NASA astronaut Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper will join the world’s largest gender diversity outreach event on March 9 to 10, 2019, at the Abbotsford International Airport.
Aside from NASA mission specialist and fixer of space stations, Stefanyshyn-Piper is a 30-year veteran of the U.S. Navy as Dive Officer, Salvage Officer, Engineering Duty Officer, Surface Warfare Officer, and Underwater Ship Husbandry Operations Officer with numerous special honours and commendations to her credit.
Not your star-gazing, typical “I always wanted to be an astronaut” astronaut, Stefanyshyn-Piper was deeply immersed in a successful career with the U.S. Navy when a colleague mentioned NASA’s plans to build a space station. Intrigued, she researched NASA’s plans for Freedom, a project which later evolved into the International Space Station, and concluded that her experience fixing ships underwater for the U.S. Navy was very similar to building a space station; she immediately applied.
During her 13 years with NASA, Stefanyshyn-Piper logged over 27 days and 15 hours in space. She flew on Mission STS-115 on space shuttle Atlantis with Canadian Astronaut Steve MacLean in 2006 and Mission STS-126 on space shuttle Endeavour in 2008. She completed five space walks totaling 33 hours and 42 minutes of extra-vehicular activity (EVA) time.
The Sky’s No Limit – Girls Fly Too! is the world’s largest event of its kind to inspire female future leaders in aviation, aerospace, marine and defence, as well as other high-tech science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. The event is organized by the Achieve Anything Foundation and held annually during the week of International Women’s Day.
Weather permitting, hundreds of free flights are provided to first-time female fliers of any age. Events are fun, hands-on, and completely free to ensure there are no barriers to participation. This is thanks to the generous support of industry and community partners such as the Lockheed Martin Corporation, Abbotsford International Airport, Teck Construction, and many others.
Events are open to the public and everyone is welcome; no registration is required to attend.
In 2018 the Canadian and U.S. Military, Cadets, RCMP, Canadian Coast Guard, Vancouver Police and various civilian entities joined forces with well over a billion dollars in aircraft and tactical assets for participants to explore. Over 20,000 people from Canada, the U.S., and beyond participated over the two-day event and 1,955 girls and women were exhilarated by their first flight in a small aircraft. Visit www.girlsfly2.ca for more information and event updates.
The Achieve Anything Foundation is a federally incorporated not-for-profit organization with a mission to inspire female future leaders in STEM, and STEM-based fields such as aviation, aerospace, marine and defence. With the mantra “From shop floor to top floor,” the foundation employs a unique hands-on approach towards changing perceptions and improving gender diversity in high-tech fields.
“Since the number of women in high-tech, STEM-based industries remains low, the result is that girls and women have very few role models in their network to share their experience and passion for these fields,” said Achieve Anything president and founder Kirsten Brazier. “In day-to-day life, women generally don’t ‘see’ themselves reflected in these areas, and this is continually reinforced in the media and social media.
“Therefore, if women are not aware of these opportunities, it is unreasonable to expect them to be interested in pursuing them. We’ve implemented Operation: This IS You! to develop this network of experience by providing year-round, hands-on experience events for girls and women in the applicable agency or industry partner’s native environments.”
Brazier is a professional pilot from the Lower Mainland, B.C., and she holds Canadian and U.S. pilot licenses with airline transport ratings for both airplanes and helicopters. With over 25 years of flying and aviation management experience, Brazier has enjoyed a diverse career flying across Canada, the U.S., and the Caribbean on wheels, floats, skis, and skids, as well as two-crew operations in both airplanes and helicopters.
