Bjarni Tryggvason
Bjarni Valdimar Tryggvason was an Icelandic-born Canadian engineer, pilot, and astronaut whose shuttle flight centered on atmospheric science and vibration isolation for microgravity research. He remains one of the most distinctive engineering specialists in the Canadian astronaut story.
- Born
- September 21, 1945
- Died
- April 5, 2022
- Birthplace
- Reykjavik,Iceland
Flights
1
Spacewalks
0
EVA time
N/A
In space
11 days, 20 hours, 28 minutes
Bio
Tryggvason moved from Iceland to Canada as a child and studied engineering physics at the University of British Columbia. He later pursued postgraduate work in applied mathematics and fluid dynamics at the University of Western Ontario, building the technical foundation for his vibration and aerodynamics work.
Selected in the 1983 Canadian astronaut group, he worked on Canadian experiment systems before flying STS-85 in 1997 as a . His primary in-flight work involved the Microgravity vibration Isolation Mount, designed to protect sensitive experiments from spacecraft vibrations.
After leaving the Canadian Space Agency in 2008, Tryggvason continued teaching, flying, and test-pilot work. In 2009 he piloted a replica of Alexander Graham Bell's Silver Dart to mark a century of powered flight in Canada.