Lögberg-Heimskringla - 18.02.1994, Blaðsíða 4

4 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 18. febrúar 1994
g~yome people think Icelanders are spaced out, and here’s
a fellow who is trying his best. One of Canada’s newest
IsJr astronauts is Captain Michael McKay, whose Icelandic
heritage can be traced through his mother, Sheila McKay, of
Edmonton. The following article is reprinted from the
November5,1993 edition ofthe Edmonton Sun.
Astronaut
Flying High
by Anne Alexander
Capt. Michael McKay, at age 30,
has the universe at his feet.
Literally. On July 2, 1993, he
became one of the chosen few - one
of four out of more than 5,300 appli-
cants - to become a Canadian astro-
naut.
He may get to soar through the
stratosphere. Or not.
“That’s the easy approach - to say
that my goal is to fly in space. But
there’s no guarantee that’s going to
happen.”
He’s known astronauts who’ve
been through their entire careers and
retired, never once blasting off.
So while hitching a ride on the
Columbia would be wonderful, wan-
gling a seat on the spacecraft is just
one of a number of challenges - and
possibilities - he’s faced.
Junior high years were tough, he
remembers.
McKay’s father is a United Church
minister - Rev. Robert McKay, now
pastor at Chalmers United Church in
Edmonton. His mother is a former
teacher, a specialist in learning dis-
abilities. She’s president of the
Learning Disabilities Association of
Edmonton. (His parents came to town
12 years ago, when McKay went to
college.)
Because of his father’s work,
McICay - originally from Bracebridge,
Ont. - says his family moved around a
lot while he was growing up.
“I was always a bit of a loner, an
outsider. I wasn’t what you’d call
cool. In fact, very few astronauts were
ever part of the “cool” group in
school,” he admits.
At that age, being out of the “in”
crowd can make life fairly miserable.
And McKay never dreamed a nerd
could become a national VIP in such
a “cool” profession.
“In grade 9, I decided I wanted to
work in the aerospace industry, and
do that through the military.”
Focusing on that goal helped him
through rough teen times. The deter-
Cookbook A vailable
This letter responds to a query
from Ellen J. Sigurdson, Swan
River, in the 3 December 1993
issue. You may be interested to know
that the Leif Eiríksson Club in
Calgary markets a cookbook con-
taining all-Icelandic recipes, in
English. We are enclosing a copy
for your interest at Lögberg-
Jo in . . .
Icelandic
Canadian
Frón
Send membership fee of
$25.00 single or $35.00 family
(indudes membership in the Scandinavian Centre)
to: lcelandic Canadian Frón
764 Erin St., Winnipeg, MB R3G 2W4
Telephone: 774-8047
Heimskringla, and you are welcome
to reproduce recipes from it from
time to time, if you wish.
Our club members and their fami-
lies contributed all the recipes in the
book and they are all authentically
Icelandic. Interspersed among the
recipes are short “Did You Know”
items containing miscellaneous facts
about Iceland’s history and culture.
Anyone wishing to obtain copies
of our cookbook may do so by for-
warding $10 (includes postage) to
me, at the address shown below.
Freda Abrahamson
#32, 821 - 3rd Avenue S.W.
Calgary, Alberta
T2P 0H1
Jcelanbic National ICeague
©rganizeb 1918 Sncorporateb 1930
Support Icelandic Culture and Heritage
Join your local chapter, or write to:
The lcelandic National League
699 Carter Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3M 2C3
Telephone: (204) 284-3402
in space
mination stuck until
year 3 of military col-
lege, when McKay hit
another roadblock.
“I lost my motiva-
tion. I decided I’d
rather go study photog-
raphy - it was easy, cre-
ative, more fun...than
dull, boring physics. I
even failed a few cours-
es.” But he licked the
problem.
“Actually my field
commander gave me a
good strong kick in the
butt. That did it for
me.”
That brought the
motivation back, pron-
to.
Even getting through the final stage
of the astronaut selection process was
a huge challenge, McKay says.
The top 20 applicants were taken
to Ottawa for one gruelling week.
They were poked and prodded by
medical doctors digging for physical
flaws. They were plunked in front of a
12 man panel for an hour’s personal
grilling. And worst of all, they had to
face the other candidates - 19 prime
spaceman specimens.
“I felt this big,” McKay says,
putting his thumb and finger so close
together that only a sliver of light slips
through. “This was an impressive
group.”
Some had several Ph.D.s, he says,
and years of experience. “They
seemed almost untouchable.”
But he had to stay confident.
“Every moming I’d look in the mirror
and yell at myself - “You are the
greatest!”
And on July 2 1992, the telephone
rang. He was in.
Most of his time is spent in
Houston, Texas, working on ground
support of a mission scheduled for
January. But this week, he’s on a spe-
cial mission - as an ambassador for
the local Learning Disabilities
Association.
The challenges McKay’s faced, and
those yet to come as an astronaut, are
a lot like having a learning disability,
he says. Those people have a problem
with how they receive, process or ver-
balize information.
“The challenge is to identify the
problem, and then find a way around
it - whether it means using a calcula-
tor to do math, or a spell checker for
language, or whatever.”
Too many of the leaming disabled
are written off as stupid or lazy or
troublemakers. So if there’s one mes-
sage McKay can give to leaming dis-
abled children - and their parents,
teachers and anyone, for that matter -
it’s that there is a way to beat every
challenge.
After all, if a former nerd can
become an astronaut, isn’t anything
possible?
While in Edmonton in November,
Michael spoke to students at the
Edmonton Space and Science Centre
and hosted a benefit dinner and
celebrity áuction for the Learning
Disabilities Association.
Poet’s Corner:
by Bragl
He was a full blown atheist
Who did not give a damn
How he collected his riches
With brazen fraud and sham
People were but drivelling pawns
In a huge game of chess
Not due a second thought for their
Sanctimoniousness
But now he faced a deadly test
Before the hang man’s noose
For having k:!led a rival
During a bout with booze
Would he enter eternity
Forever lost in space
While they strolled in paradise
Most of the human race
What could he conceivably lose
By bowing to the Lord
Compared to the alternative
With no hopeful reward
TRAP
On bended Knees his mind was clear
Like and old time gambler
He played the odds in face of death
But not without some fear
With the noose closing on his neck
Soon he would know for sure
But little doubt in his own mind
His heart was less than pure
What if the Lord was adamant
About sincerity
That he confess all of his sins
In heartfelt earnesty
Would He allow for any flaw
In His own creation
Or place it before a jury
With less toleration
Dangling against a sunny sky
A body, not a mind
And we are left to speculate
What truth his soul will find