Chris Hadfield has achieved what few people could imagine. Not just going into space, but doing so on three occasions. He became the first Canadian to ever leave a spacecraft and float free in space. In total, Hadfield spent 14 hours, 54 minutes outside (which is equates to moving ten times around the world).
A remarkable man, Hadfield occasionally tours, presenting on what it takes and what it is like to train to be astronaut; the experience of being in space; the future of spaceflight and the inevitable topic of extra-terrestrials.
In June 2023, Hadfield came over to the U.K. and one of the events was held at London’s Dury Lane Theatre, in Covent Garden.
One of Colonel Hadfield’s great strengths is being able to put across complex scientific concepts in a way that makes them easy to understand for a lay audience, often using analogies and turning to an array of graphics that were projected behind him.
The projections included a range of screen-filling multimedia including some mind-blowing images from the James Webb telescope.
At various times Hadfield celebrated the best of human achievement and optimism. This was not least with the future prospects for a moon base and the panned missions to Mars. With the latter, Hadfield is of the view that the projects is more complex than some of the richer industrialists backing Mars missions make out. It can be done, it will be done, but it may take a couple of decades.
More complex subjects were not avoided. Hadfield was open when discussing the environmental impact of space travel. His view is that the rocket launches pale into insignificance when compared with aircraft. He also explained how much valuable information about the state of our planet can be gathered from satellites. Such data is quicker to come by and more accurate compared with any surveys from land or sea.
Hadfield also gave an amusing and detailed account of his life. Prior to becoming an astronaut, Hadfield flew CF-18s for the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) with 425 Squadron. Despite this tough apprenticeship, space travel presented many challenges – not least keeping fit and fighting against bone density loss.
Later, in 1992, he was selected to become one of four new Canadian astronauts from a field of 5,330 applicants by the Canadian Space Agency. This led to NASA.
For his third mission into space, Hadfield was the Director of Operations for NASA at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre (GCTC) in Star City, Russia. This mission required him to learn Russian and take charge of two cosmonauts.
As well as a presenter and surviving as an advisor to various companies, Hadfield is also an author. As well as his accounts of astronaut training, Hadfield has also written novels His latest is ‘The Apollo Murders’, which looks set to become a television series.
Hadfield took many questions from the audience, listening carefully even to the stranger comments, and always responding with a clear, thoughtful, and concise answer.
Hadfield closed his lively and fascinating talk with a rendition of David Bowie’s Space Oddity, the song that Hadfield himself performed on the ISS in a video that subsequently went viral. It was an inspiring way to end the evening.
