Astronaut Dr. Roberta Bondar has captured our planet from space on IMAX cameras over dozens of space missions, but don't expect any space shots when she brings her photography exhibit to Festival Place on Thursday.

Bondar was the first neurologist to travel to space and do experiments in the first international micro-gravity lab, but Light in the Land: The Nature of Canada is decidedly rooted in the planet Earth, specifically the geography and natural beauty of Canada.

Hoodoos carved in the sandstone through water erosion in Dinosaur Provincial Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (Roberta Bondar/Canadian Geographic)

'Quite an extraordinary adventure'

She told Radio Active host Portia Clark Tuesday that her passion for the natural environment actually took shape during her first space mission in 1992.

Ten years and two dozen space missions later, she decided to embark on her photographic journey across Canada.

"I thought to myself, I'm going to mortgage my house and go across the country like Ansel Adams with his big view camera ... and photograph all of our national parks. [It was] quite an extraordinary adventure."

For two-and-a-half years across more than 40 national parks, Bondar photographed Canada to create "an artistic record of the environment as it existed at the end of the last millennium."

Through the Roberta Bondar Foundation, which she founded in 2009, Bondar said she has sought to meld science and art, to inspire a respect for the Earth through photography and imagery.

The Ward Hunt Ice Shelf on the north shore of Ellesmere Island. (Roberta Bondar/Canadian Geographic)

"With the foundation we're trying to get other people connected to the natural environment through the viewfinder of a camera, to take portraits of our land, and portraits of the natural environment so people will love something and be better connected with it and want to protect it," Bondar said.

'Calming, strength, future and mystery'

Roberta Bondar speaks at Festival Place in Sherwood Park Thursday. (Roberta Bondar/Canadian Geographic) Bondar's exhibition and talk in Sherwood Park at 7:30 p.m. Thursday will feature 14 large-scale prints, one from each province and territory of Canada.

The 14th print, a red maple in autumn, is meant to represent the country as a whole.

Bondar said she thinks people will be surprised by the beauty and variety found in the country.

"I only had one shot for each one of these areas so it's quite interesting what I was able to pick, to theme things into calming, strength, future and mystery, which is how I curated the exhibition."

Listen to Radio Active with host Portia Clark, weekday afternoons at CBC Radio One, 93.9 FM in Edmonton. Follow the afternoon crew on Twitter @CBCRadioActive.