Bondar, Roberta (1945-...), a doctor of medicine, became the first Canadian woman to travel in space. In January 1992, she and six other astronauts made an eight-day flight aboard the space shuttle Discovery. During the mission, Bondar studied how space flight affects human beings and how gravity affects and helps shape materials and living things. She experimented with crystals, plants, and insects. She also developed tools and techniques for conducting research in the apparent weightlessness of orbiting spacecraft.