As the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station, Chris Hadfield had many important duties aboard the giant Earth-orbiting laboratory, not the least of which was overseeing the safety of the crew.
But as Hadfield’s time aboard the ISS comes to a close, a review of his tenure reveals what has been obvious to everyone following his adventures on Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook, and to every student who participated in a video chat or amateur radio conversation with him:
Chris Hadfield has made the unreachable corners of outer space personal, fun, and incredibly interesting.
Space and the arts are no strangers, having been pretty friendly over the years.
It’s not, for instance, uncommon for astronauts to know how to wield a guitar, with the most recent renaissance man aboard the ISS being Canada’s Earth-space ambassador, Commander Chris Hadfield.
Now, after a series of (gone-viral) live chats with celebs and students, and clever info segments about life’s minutiae aboard the Station, Hadfield will be holding his last live broadcast with Earth on Monday, May 6.
On March 13, 2013, Canadian Space Agency (CSA) Astronaut Chris Hadfield became the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station. It was an important day for Canada, for the CSA, and for the 53-year old space veteran who’s been training for this moment since he was 14 years old.
“The ISS is an orbiting research vessel of unprecedented capability, and Canada is in the thick of it,” explained Hadfield in his official statement as commander, “… the 130 experiments currently on the ISS are pushing back the edge of what is possible.”
Imagine having asteroid warnings issued every day of the week. Aside from the resulting mass panic, it’s not such a stretch — NASA estimates that thousands of meteors hit Earth’s atmosphere relatively unnoticed every day.
Meteors are comets or pieces of asteroid that break free and burn up in the atmosphere. If one hits the Earth, it’s called a meteorite. (Or just “Yikes!” depending on the size.)
by Theras Wood The photographers’ cameras have long stopped flashing, and you’re all strapped in. Forget ‘space celebrity’, you’re the childhood hero of an entire generation. But none of that matters here in the bowels of the Russian Soyuz TMA spacecraft. Here, you’re just a woman or man headed to space, with scores of trainingRead more…
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, along with U.S. astronaut Tom Marshburn and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, took off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Dec. 19 and arrived two days later at the International Space Station for the start of a six-month visit.
On the brink of launching cameras into space, UrtheCast has recently added a host of seasoned executives to its Board of Directors.
As of this week, UrtheCast’s team now welcomes former Canadian Space Agency (CSA) president Mac Evans — a veritable coup for this commercial space startup. Read more.
Article by Mario Toneguzzi, posted from the Calgary Herald.
A technology company, based in Calgary and Vancouver, that is working on the world’s first near-live HD video feed of Earth from space, has appointed the former Canadian Space Agency president to its board of directors.
UrtheCast said William ‘Mac’ Evans will help guide the international tech startup in providing the video stream from the International Space Station. Read more.
The Canadian Space Agency has a question for students: Have you ever wondered how things behave in space?
The agency is inviting students from across Canada to devise a science experiment to investigate that question and enter it into the Canadian Space Science Challenge. The winning entry will be conducted on the International Space Station by CSA astronaut Chris Hadfield, who is making final preparations for his next mission in which he will eventually serve as station commander. Read more.
Making money in the commercial space industry isn’t new, and it isn’t just about building new spaceships and asteroid mining. It can be about discovering new and better ways to use technologies developed for space. Read more.
