In 1992 my lifetime dream came true when I was selected as a Canadian Astronaut. In the early days of the Mercury space program the images of the astonauts on our grainy black and white television set were enthralling. The '60s, a decade of change had just begun and while the NASA astronauts pushed the limits of space exploration my imagination soared beyond, stimulated by shows and movies like Star Trek and 2001 A Space Odyssey. The call of the computer Hal to Dave seemed prophetic and lingered with me as I felt the vicarious thrill of jogging onboard a space station while exploring the final frontier of space. Forty-six years later, as a veteran astronaut climbing out of the airlock on the first of three record setting spacewalks, I felt profoundly grateful to represent Canada as one of the few humans to go outside a spacecraft and ride the famous Canadarm to help build the Space Station.

Many people ask about the most memorable experience of being in space. Is it the 7.5 million pounds of thrust at lift-off and the incredible 8.5 minute ride to space? Could it be the spectacular view of the Earth from a distance of 350 Km while doing a spacewalk and riding the end of the Canadarm realizing that you are travelling 8 Km/second?

To me, the most incredible part of being an astronaut is having a chance to work with a team of individuals on the ground and in space challenged to make seemingly impossible tasks - possible!! The harsh vacuum of space is unforgiving of error. Astronauts refer to it as a zero-fault tolerant environment. Learning to work together as a team, to overcome individual differences and to trust one another with complex mission objectives and each other's lives has taught me many lessons about leadership, followership and peak team performance. As a Professor of Surgery at McMaster University and part of the senior management team at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, I now have a chance to share those lessons with our clinical teams to help them achieve peak performance in another zero-fault tolerant environment - the healthcare system.

Dr. Dave Williams