Chris Hadfield
Chris Hadfield
Chris Austin Hadfield OC OOnt MSC CDis a retired Canadian astronaut who was the first Canadian to walk in space. An engineer and former Royal Canadian Air Force fighter pilot, Hadfield has flown two space shuttle missions and served as commander of the International Space Station...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionAstronaut
Date of Birth29 August 1959
CitySarnia, Canada
CountryCanada
astronaut canadian possible time
When I was nine, I wanted to be an astronaut but at that time there weren't any Canadian astronauts. You had to be American or Soviet. So many things will be possible in your lifetimes.
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In the astronaut business - the shuttle is a very complicated vehicle; it's the most complicated flying machine ever built. And in the astronaut business, we have a saying, which is, 'There is no problem so bad that you can't make it worse.'
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We have never lost a crew member on the space station, but of course, the Columbia accident. I was - I'd already been an astronaut for a decade when the crew of Columbia was killed. And I went through test pilot school. Rick Husband and I were out at Edwards at test pilot school together. He was the commander of Columbia.
astronauts forces mind nasa prioritize quite requires rocket ways
Nothing focuses your mind quite like flying a jet. That's one reason NASA requires that astronauts fly T-38s: it forces us to concentrate and prioritize in some of the same ways we need to in a rocket ship.
pilots next astronaut
"What's the next thing that's going to kill me?" is a mantra for pilots and astronauts.
astronaut turns destined
I wasn’t destined to be an astronaut. I had to turn myself into one.
astronaut chief robotics
And now for Return to Flight, I'm chief of robotics working in the astronaut office in Houston, as a Canadian.
belly body floating match throw
When we first get to space, we feel sick. Your body is really confused. You're dizzy. Your lunch is floating around in your belly because you're floating. What you see doesn't match what you feel, and you want to throw up.
shuttle space station stay time
When I did my spacewalks, it was during space station construction. So the shuttle was docked to the fledgling ISS at the time. So we would always stay tethered.
danger deal fear obvious people question somehow turn versus walk watched
I watched the first people walk on the moon, and to me, it was just an obvious thing - I want to somehow turn myself into that. But the real question is, how do you deal with the danger of it and the fear that comes from it? How do you deal with fear versus danger?
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I think there are lots of ways to exercise ambition and accomplish things using leadership without going into elected politics. So, categorically, I have no intention of going into elected politics. None.
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I was born in Sarnia, Ontario; a small town, it's where oil was pretty much discovered in North America.
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I think Canada in general should be very proud of our capabilities. We are absolute world leaders in space robotics,
fear
You can get claustrophobia and agoraphobia - a fear of wide, open spaces - simultaneously on a spacewalk.