Bjarni Tryggvason | |
|---|---|
 Tryggvason in 1997 | |
| Born | Bjarni Valdimar Tryggvason (1945-09-21)September 21, 1945 |
| Died | April 5, 2022(2022-04-05) (aged 76) |
| Education | University of British Columbia (BS) University of Western Ontario |
| Space career | |
| NRC/CSA astronaut | |
Time in space | 11 days, 20 hours, 28 minutes |
| Selection | 1983 NRC Group NASA Group 17 (1998) |
| Missions | STS-85 |
Mission insignia |  |
Bjarni Valdimar Tryggvason (September 21, 1945 – April 5, 2022) was an Icelandic-born Canadian engineer and aNRC/CSA astronaut. He served as aPayload Specialist onSpace Shuttle missionSTS-85 in 1997, a nearly 12-day mission to study changes in theEarth's atmosphere. Bjarni is the first, and as of 2024[update], only Canadian astronaut of Icelandic birth.
Tryggvason was born inReykjavík, Iceland, on September 21, 1945.[1] He moved to Canada with his parents when he was eight years old,[2] and grew up inVancouver,British Columbia. After attending high school inRichmond, British Columbia, he obtained aB.A.Sc. degree inengineering physics from theUniversity of British Columbia in 1972, and subsequently studied at the postgraduate level inengineering with specialization inapplied mathematics andfluid dynamics at theUniversity of Western Ontario.[3]
Tryggvason worked as ameteorologist with thecloud physics group at theAtmospheric Environment Service inToronto in 1972 and 1973. In 1974, he joined the University of Western Ontario to work as a research associate at the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory working on projects involving rigid andaero-elastic model studies of wind effects on structures.[3] In 1987, he was a guest research associate atKyoto University, Japan. This was followed by a similar position atJames Cook University inTownsville, Australia. In late 1979, he returned to the University of Western Ontario as a lecturer in applied mathematics.[3]
In 1982, Tryggvason joined the Low Speed Aerodynamics Laboratory at theNational Research Council (NRC) inOttawa. He became part of the NRC team assembled to study the sinking of theOcean Ranger oil rig in support of the Royal Commission investigation. He designed and led the aerodynamics tests, which established the wind loads acting on the rig. Between 1981 and 1992, he was also a part-time lecturer at theUniversity of Ottawa andCarleton University, teaching graduate courses onstructural dynamics andrandom vibrations.[3]
Tryggvason had about 4,000 hours of flight experience, held an Airline Transport Rating and had experience as aflight instructor. He was active inaerobatic flight and once qualified as captain in theTutor jet trainer with theRoyal Canadian Air Force.[3]
Tryggvason was one of the six Canadian astronauts selected in December 1983, and was the first Canadian astronaut born in Iceland.[2] He was back-upPayload Specialist toSteven MacLean for the CANEX-2 set of experiments which flew on MissionSTS-52, October 22 to November 1, 1992. He was the Project Engineer for the design of the SVS target spacecraft which was deployed during that mission.[3]
He was the principal investigator in the development of theLarge Motion Isolation Mount, which has flown numerous times on theNASABoeing KC-135 andDC-9 aircraft, for theMicrogravity vibration Isolation Mount (MIM), which operated on the RussianMir space station from April 1996 until January 1998, and for the MIM-2, which flew onSTS-85 in August 1997. The MIM was used on the Mir to support several Canadian and US experiments in material science and fluid physics.[3]
Tryggvason served as a payload specialist onSTS-85 (August 7–19, 1997), a 12-day mission to study changes in the Earth's atmosphere. During the flight, his primary role was testing MIM-2 and performing fluid dynamics experiments designed to examine sensitivity to spacecraft vibrations. This work was directed at developing better understanding of the need for systems such as the MIM on theInternational Space Station (ISS) and on the effect of vibrations on the many experiments to be performed on the ISS. The mission was accomplished in 189 Earth orbits, traveling 4.7 million miles in 284 hours and 28 minutes.[3]
In August 1998, Tryggvason became part ofNASA Astronaut Group 17. Training consisted of two years of physical and academic training relating to future missions. The class was the first group of astronauts to be trained as both mission specialist for theSpace Shuttle and as potential crewmembers for the ISS. He was initially assigned as aShuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL) crew representative. SAIL is used to test, check out, and verify Shuttle flight software prior to use. He also supported integrated simulations on the ISS Training Facility. This facility is used for ISS crew training as well as in support of training the ISS Mission Control team.[3]
Tryggvason retired from theCanadian Space Agency in June 2008.[4] He returned to teaching at theUniversity of Western Ontario.[5] He also taught at theInternational Test Pilots School inLondon, Ontario, and continued to serve as a test pilot.[6]
On February 22, 2009, Tryggvason piloted a replica ofAlexander Graham Bell'sSilver Dart, from the ice on Baddeck Bay,Cape Breton Island,Nova Scotia. The flight commemorated the centennial of the first flight in Canada and the British Empire. Due to poor weather conditions expected on the next day, the flight occurred one day before the actual centenary of the original Silver Dart's flight.[7]
Tryggvason had two children.[1] His son also went into aviation as acommercial pilot, while his daughter was aveterinarian.[6] He died on April 5, 2022, at the age of 76.[8][9]
Tryggvason was a member of theCanadian Aeronautics and Space Institute. He was awarded an honoraryD.Sc. degree from theUniversity of Western Ontario in 1998,[10] an honoraryDr. Techn. degree from theUniversity of Iceland in 2000,[3][11] and an honoraryD.Eng. degree from theUniversity of Victoria in 2005.[12] He was furthermore awarded theNASA Space Flight Medal in 1997, the Innovators Award of theCanadian Space Agency in 2004, and the Knight's Cross of the IcelandicOrder of the Falcon in 2000.[3][9][13]
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