Julie Payette

Julie Payette

Julie Payette (French pronunciation: ?[?yli paj?t]; born October 20, 1963) is a Canadian engineer, scientist and former astronaut who served as the Governor General of Canada from 2017 to 2021. She was the 29th officeholder since Canadian Confederation.Payette holds engineering degrees from McGill University and the University of Toronto. She worked as a research scientist before joining the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) in 1992 as a member of the Canadian Astronaut Corps. She completed two spaceflights, STS-96 and STS-127, and has logged more than 25 days in space. She also served as capsule communicator at NASA Mission Control Center in Houston and from 2000 to 2007 as CSA's chief astronaut. In July 2013, Payette was named chief operating officer for the Montreal Science Centre. She also held a number of board appointments, including the National Bank of Canada. On July 13, 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Queen Elizabeth II had approved the appointment of Payette as the next governor general of Canada. She was sworn in on October 2, 2017.Payette resigned on January 21, 2021 amidst the release of a report by the Privy Council Office accusing her of harassment of civil servants in the Office of the Governor-General.

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