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OTTAWA — This is Ground Control to Major Marc: you didn’t make the grade.

Documents show at least two ministers’ offices helped plan a Canadarm event that snubbed Canada’s first astronaut, Marc Garneau, now a Liberal MP.

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The May 2 unveiling of a Canadarm display at the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum featured dozens of VIPs as guests.

But curiously absent from the guest list was Garneau, who had operated the space arm on two space-shuttle flights and was later made president of the Canadian Space Agency.

Garneau was miffed at being excluded, blaming the lapse on the “highly partisan” Conservative government.

Two senior ministers, however, said museum and space agency staff fumbled the ball and that their own ministerial offices played no role.

But internal emails, guest lists and proposals show that the offices of James Moore, Canadian Heritage minister, and Christian Paradis, industry minister, were closely involved in the planning for more than two months.