A doctored image of Canadarm2, Canada’s much-touted contribution to the International Space Station, is being removed from various government websites after The Economist shamed Ottawa for using an image “reminiscent of North Korean propaganda.”
The U.K.-based weekly newspaper with an international audience noted on its website Friday that a large Canadian government logo was photoshopped onto the robotic arm in a photo of U.S. astronaut Stephen Robinson’s spacewalk.
“Of course, countries have long fiddled with photographs to present an image of grandeur,” The Economist wrote. “But the tactic of fairly ham-fisted airbrushing used here seems more reminiscent of North Korean propaganda posters than of Western democracies' typical PR efforts.”
Canadarm2 does have a government logo, but it was not visible in the original NASA photo. The doctored image appeared on several government websites, including Canada’s Economic Action Plan and Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
A spokesperson for the Canadian Space Agency told CTVNews.ca Friday that the photoshopped image came from a poster developed in 2006 for a staff celebration of the Canadarm anniversary. The poster was made for internal use only, and the space agency is trying to find out how it ended up on government websites, Maya-Olivia Eyssen said.
The Canadian Space Agency is working with other government departments to remove the image from their websites, she said.
The image still appears here and here.
Canadarm2 helped assemble the ISS and is now used to move supplies and equipment, as well as assist with the space station’s upkeep. It also captures and docks unpiloted spacecraft when they arrive at the ISS.
The original Canadarm entered space in 1981 on space shuttle Columbia and was retired along with the space shuttle program.
