The Canadarm was one of Canada's proudest contributions to space exploration. First carried into orbit aboard the space shuttle Columbia in 1981, the robotic arm was designed and built in Canada by a company just outside Toronto. Officially known as the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System, it stretched roughly fifteen metres and could lift heavy loads in the weightlessness of orbit as easily as a person lifts a broom on the ground. Painted along its side were a red maple leaf and the word "CANADA," which made the arm instantly recognizable to viewers watching from home.

The arm quickly proved its worth. Over three decades it flew on more than ninety shuttle flights, launching and recovering satellites and helping astronauts carry out repairs outside their spacecraft. Perhaps its most celebrated moment came during work on the Hubble Space Telescope, when the arm held the huge instrument steady while crews replaced its parts. Its dependability made it a source of national pride and turned a piece of engineering into a symbol Canadians recognized far beyond the space program.