By Open HouseMonday 2 Feb 2015Open House InterviewsInspirational StoriesReading Time: 2 minutes
To see the world from the window of a space shuttle is a sight only seen by few, including Chris Hadfield a now retired, Canadian Astronaut. His immense love for space began when humans first landed on the moon, making the impossible, possible and sparking a dream in a determined ten-year-old’s heart.
Chris’ journey to space was not easy, “I didn’t suddenly get plucked from life and shot into space, it was the fruit of decades of labour.” Ever since he was young, Chris worked every day to change and mould himself into the man he wanted to be, the man chosen for the Canadian Space Program. He was successful in his endeavour, being one of several thousand to apply to the program that year. Looking back on his journey he also attributed luck, timing, age, health, country, education and hard work to his success.
Intensive space training prepared Chris for the worst, from a technical difficulty (a regularity in space exploration) to the death of a fellow astronaut whilst in space, Chris was ready for anything. Yet, when asked if the number of possible accidents scared or worried him, Chris felt that having the skills to deal with those problems opened up his mind and time for other things, such as making sure that nothing goes disastrously wrong. With a one in thirty-eight chance of death upon ascent, any other person would be weighing up whether it is worth the risk, but to Chris Hadfield, it was like nothing he ever experienced before, “the magic of (space), the beauty of it, makes it all worth it.”
The space team tries to balance work and play and Chris Hadfield’s astronomical antics, recorded by camera and uploaded to YouTube, has received millions of views. One of the more famous is his rendition of the David Bowie classic, Space Oddity, sung floating through gravity with a guitar in hand. Chris marvels at how social media has allowed him to connect to the earth he orbits so regularly, from conversing with others on twitter about current events to inspiring the next generation with film and photos on YouTube and Facebook. Hadfield wants to share his experience with the rest of the world, and urges us not to give up on the Space Program, as “it’s in our nature to explore.”
You can see more of Chris’ YouTube clips, learn about his book “You are Here, Around the World in 92 Minutes” on his website.