Chris Hadfield

• 1. The Moon Landing Spark

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  Chris Austin Hadfield was born on the 29th of August 1959, in Sarnia, Ontario. He grew up on a corn farm in Southern Ontario with his parents Eleanor and Roger Hadfield. His fascination with space began at age nine when he watched the Apollo 11 Moon landing on television. This single broadcast ignited a lifelong dream to become an astronaut. He attended White Oaks Secondary School in Oakville before graduating from Milton District High School in 1978 as an Ontario Scholar. During high school, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Cadets and earned both glider and powered pilot scholarships by ages fifteen and sixteen respectively. After graduation, he spent two years at Royal Roads Military College followed by two years at the Royal Military College of Canada where he received a Bachelor of Engineering degree in mechanical engineering in 1982.

• 2. First Steps In The Void

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  In April 2001, Chris Hadfield served as mission specialist one aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour during STS-100. The crew delivered and installed Canadarm2 along with the Italian-made resupply module Raffaello. During this eleven-day flight, Hadfield performed two spacewalks that made him the first Canadian to ever leave a spacecraft and float freely in space. His first spacewalk caused severe eye irritation due to anti-fog solution used to polish his spacesuit visor. The chemical temporarily blinded him and forced him to vent oxygen into space. He spent fourteen hours and fifty minutes outside traveling ten times around the world during these extravehicular activities. Earlier in November 1995, he had flown on STS-74 as the first Canadian to operate the Canadarm in orbit while visiting the Russian space station Mir.

• 3. Commanding The Orbital Station

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  On the 19th of December 2012, Hadfield launched in Soyuz TMA-07M for a long duration stay aboard the International Space Station as part of Expedition 35. He arrived at the station two days later and became the first Canadian to command the ISS when Expedition 34 departed in March 2013. On the 12th of May 2013, he turned over command to Pavel Vinogradov before returning home aboard the Soyuz spacecraft on May 13. As commander, he was responsible for a crew of five astronauts and helped run dozens of scientific experiments dealing with low gravity impacts on human biology. During this mission, he chronicled life onboard by taking pictures of Earth and posting them on various social media platforms. He received significant media exposure throughout his time on the station.

• 4. Connecting Through Digital Airwaves

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  Hadfield built a massive online following with over 2,400,000 Twitter followers during his tenure on the ISS. He created one of the top Reddit ask me anything threads of all time on the 17th of February 2013. His exchanges with William Shatner and other Star Trek actors received widespread media coverage. Forbes described him as perhaps the most social media savvy astronaut ever to leave Earth. Hadfield enlisted help from his son Evan to manage his social media presence while they worked together to share information about aspects of life as an astronaut. They shared both scientific details and mundane daily experiences over the internet. This approach humanized space exploration for a global audience in ways previously unseen.

• 5. Guitars In Zero Gravity

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  During free time on Expedition 35, Hadfield recorded music using the Larrivée Parlor guitar brought to the ISS. The first song recorded in space called Jewel in the Night was released via YouTube on Christmas Eve 2012. On the 12th of May 2013, he released a modified rendition of Space Oddity by David Bowie as a music video recorded on the station. That video has accumulated over 55 million views on YouTube since its release. In October 2015, he released Space Sessions: Songs From a Tin Can containing songs recorded aboard the International Space Station. He also collaborated with Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies and the Wexford Gleeks on Is Somebody Singing which aired on CBC Radio program Q and was released online on the 8th of February 2013.

• 6. Life After Orbit Returns

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  In June 2013, one month after completing his third trip to space, Hadfield announced retirement from the Canadian Space Agency effective the 3rd of July 2013. He stated plans to move back to Canada making good on a promise made to his wife nearly thirty years prior. On the 8th of October 2013, the University of Waterloo announced that Hadfield would join as a professor for a three-year term beginning Fall 2014. His work involved instructing aviation programs offered by Faculty of Environment and Faculty of Science while assisting research regarding astronaut health. In 2017, he hosted BBC show Astronauts: Do You Have What It Takes alongside Kevin Fong and Iya Whiteley where twelve contestants competed to earn his approval. He joined Virgin Galactic Space Advisory Board on the 9th of February 2021 to help provide advice to senior management.