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May 8, 2016

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Earth’s beauty through an astronaut’s eyes

CHRIS Hadfield was the first Canadian in space, and perhaps he’s the astronaut with the most famous moustache. This week, he came to Shanghai to visit his first grandchild — and to share some stories.

Born in 1959, the now retired astronaut, who used to work for NASA, devoted nearly two decades of his life to exploring space.

Hadfield became an Internet celebrity as he popularized knowledge about space on social media.

“It was quite amazing for a Canadian to be a commander of a spaceship, and I was and still am the only Canadian who has done that,” he said proudly.

At the age of nine, Hadfield watched as Apollo 11 landed on the moon, which inspired him to be an astronaut. As a child, he played with a “space suit” made of cardboard.

Although Canada has no astronaut program, Hadfield was determined about his career plans.

He spent his time at home learning mechanics on tractors and old cars, and flew planes with his father and brothers as often as he could.

From an air cadet, he worked his way up to a test pilot and flew over 70 types of aircrafts. In 1995, Hadfield rode his first rocket.

“Between the day I decided to want to be an astronaut and the day I actually went into space there were 26 years, and between that day and the day I became the chief of the space station, there were 44 years,” he said. “And I just kept striving.”

In April 2001, Hadfield visited the International Space Station, where he walked in space and helped to install the Canadarm2, a mobile servicing system on board the space station.

In December 2012 he flew for a third time and joined Expedition 34 on the space station. He was a member of this expedition until March 2013 when he became the commander of the station.

He was responsible for a crew of five astronauts and helped to run dozens of scientific experiments dealing with the impact of low gravity on human biology.

“When there is no gravity, when you pour a bottle of water out, the water drops float like living jellyfish,” he said. “And you can push yourself flying when you hold your knees against your chest.”

During the mission, Hadfield shared the beautiful scenery of Earth as seen from outer space. He would float out of the spacecraft to take breathtaking pictures of cities, mostly night sceneries, and shared them on social media websites including Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and Tumblr, gaining worldwide popularity.

In 2014, Hadfield published a book titled “You Are Here: Around the World in 92 Minutes,” a collection of 150 pictures he took from the space station in 2013, including a picture of Shanghai at night.

“When I decided to take a picture of Shanghai, I started to prepare when we were flying over Turkey,” he recalled. “Then there was Kazakhstan, the Himalayas, Beijing, and then we reached Shanghai. I know what the coastal line is so it was easier for me to recognize Shanghai.”

Hadfield said he took the picture partly for his eldest son, who is now studying for a Master’s Degree in Hangzhou. His son met a girl from Henan Province at university and they just had a daughter, hence the family ties to China.

Last year, Hadfield published his second best-seller, “An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth,” in which he describes how something seemingly impossible — being an astronaut — became reality.

The moral of the space story, according to Hadfield, is that he feels he is a citizen of the Earth first, and then a citizen of a certain country.

The space station circled the Earth 16 times a day, and flying through a huge country like China takes only five minutes.

“That made me think that in the International Space Station, we’re from different countries, and the countries might have fought about politics among other things, but the Earth is our common home,” he said. “I’m proud of the national flag on the space suit, but I was proud of all of us.”

Looking back on his experience in space, Hadfield said he was willing to do a space trip again, but there was nothing for him to “miss” out there.

“As an astronaut, you have to be very optimistic, which means you always look forward,” he said.




 

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