Following his PhD research at Imperial College, London University, Karl Doetsch migrated to Canada in 1968 and embarked on a career in aerospace, starting off in aeronautics before moving into the space sector in 1976, where he worked in leadership roles on all of Canada’s principal human space flight initiatives. At various times, he managed the remote manipulator system, Canadarm, for the now retired Space Shuttle, Canada’s Astronaut Program and the Canadian Space Station Program. He served in senior management positions at the National Research Council of Canada and at the Canadian Space Agency before moving to academia as President of the International Space University in Strasbourg, France in 1998 for 6 years. In addition, during his career, he assumed several international leadership roles in the space sector, including being Chair of a UN committee on space activity and President of the International Astronautical Federation. His contributions to the development of the aerospace sector have been recognized through a number of national and international honours and awards. Back in Canada since 2004, he is President of DISC (Doetsch International Space Consultants) and continues to contribute to international space activities from Victoria.