New Brunswick’s Joel Richard Wants to go to Space
Like many kids, Joel Richard dreamed of becoming an astronaut.
But in June when the Canadian Space Agency announced that it is hiring two astronauts, he decided it was time to make that dream a reality and submit an application.
“There’s got to be somebody who has the privilege to travel beyond this planet and in the stars and even if I had a small chance then why not try,” says Richard.
The thirty-two-year-old was drawn to the excitement of space travel while growing up watching shows and movies like Star Trek and Apollo 13. So the idea of becoming an astronaut was always in the back of his mind.
“It was kind of a dream to become an astronaut but it always felt too far away for me to do anything about it. It’s like one in a million people that get to do that,” says Richard.
But when Richard saw the call for applications from the Canadian Space Agency, he couldn’t find a good reason why he shouldn’t try.
“That was when I made massive changes in my life, because I knew there is weight restriction. There are real things I need to do. I can’t just say ‘oh I will submit it and then will see what happens’ because then I would have no chance.”
Besides his day job as the technical project lead of Smart Grid Innovation Network Lab of Siemens Canada, Richard dedicates the rest of his time to training and preparing himself physically and mentally.
“Now I go to bed much earlier and wake up much earlier,” says Richard. “I run four to six times a week, go to the gym three to four times a week and swim twice a week.”
Although there are some difficult days, Richard says changing his lifestyle wasn’t too hard.
“Once I made that shift from [becoming an astronaut] being a fantasy to being a possibility that I am going to pursue, all of the sudden there was this wellspring of inspirations that I could draw the energy from,” says Richard.
Outside of Richard’s busy schedule, he helps facilitate New Brunswick Startup Weekends and mentors two teams from the Technology Management and Entrepreneurship Program at the University of New Brunswick.
Richard said people around him have been supportive of his mission. Every encouraging word and message he gets is a source of motivation.
Richard has passed the entrance exam for the Astronaut Recruitment Campaign, and his application has been sent to the Canadian Space Agency for further review.
The Canadian Space Agency received 3,772 applications. 1,706 people passed the Unsupervised Public Service Entrance Exam and only small amount of candidates will be chosen for the fitness and psychological assessment. The two successful candidates will be announced in Summer 2017.
Richard said as a New Brunswicker, he was taught to dream big.
“That willingness to undertake a big challenge is something that is in the blood of New Brunswickers. Some of the recent histories may have taken that away from us but I think it’s still there, just sleepy,” he says.
“I know that the odds are still against me. If there are 1,706 [prospects] then the odds will be about one in 853 that I will get to be one of the two astronauts. But every step, even the little hurdles, makes it a little more real.”
Regardless of what the end result, Richard said he won’t regret the decision to try because he has gained better health, aspirations and endeavours.
“If it doesn’t work out, I haven’t quite yet figured out what the next thing would be, but I know there are a list of things. I just don’t want to pick a second thing just yet. I am afraid it would make me try less hard [to become an] astronaut,” he says.
“But there are always other fantasies waiting to be possibilities.”