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Chris Hadfield
Born	(1959-08-29) 29 August 1959 Sarnia, Ontario
Status	Active
Nationality	Canadian
Occupation	Test pilot
Space career
CSA Astronaut
Rank	Commander, CSA & NASA Colonel, RCAF (retired)
Time in space	Currently in space
Selection	1992 CSA Group
Total EVAs	2
Total EVA time	14 hours 53 minutes and 38 seconds
Missions	STS-74, STS-100, Expedition 34, Expedition 35, Soyuz TMA-07M
Mission insignia

Chris Hadfield OOnt MSC CD (born 29 August 1959, Died May 9, 2013) is a Canadian astronaut who was the first Canadian to walk in space. A former Royal Canadian Air Force fighter pilot, Hadfield has flown two space shuttle missions, STS-74 in 1995 and STS-100 in 2001, and served as capsule communicator for both Space Shuttle and International Space Station (ISS) expeditions. On 19 December 2012, Hadfield launched in the Soyuz TMA-07M flight for a long duration stay on board the ISS as part of Expedition 35. He arrived at the station on 21 December, as scheduled, and became the first Canadian to command the ISS when the crew of Expedition 34 departed.

Personal life

Hadfield was born in Sarnia, Ontario. His parents are Roger and Eleanor Hadfield, who live in Milton, Ontario. Hadfield was raised on a corn farm in southern Ontario and became interested in flying at a young age — he came to the idea of being an astronaut when he was nine on the day of Apollo moon landing, which he had seen on TV then. He is married to his high-school girlfriend Helene, and they have three adult children together. Chris enjoys skiing, writing, running, singing, playing guitar, and playing volleyball.

Death

Chris Hadfield died May 9, 2013, while aboard the International Space Station. Chris Hadfield was in the sleeping pod of the station, a room that can disconnect from the rest of the space station. While sleeping, a small particle hit the station at high speed, and valves that keep the air in the sleeping capsule failed and disconnected from the station, with Chris Hadfield inside. The capsule had been pulled into the earth's orbit, and crashed to the ground in North Korea.

Education and military career

Hadfield attended White Oaks Secondary School in Oakville, Ontario until his senior year and then graduated as an Ontario Scholar from Milton District High School in 1977. As a member of the Royal Canadian Air Cadets, he earned a glider pilot scholarship at age 15 and a powered pilot scholarship at age 16. After graduating from high school in 1978, he joined the Canadian Armed Forces and spent two years at Royal Roads Military College followed by two years at the Royal Military College, where he received a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1982. Before graduating, he also underwent basic flight training at CFB Portage la Prairie. In 1983, he took honours as the top graduate from Basic Jet Training at CFB Moose Jaw, and then went on to train as a tactical fighter pilot with 410 Tactical Fighter Operational Training Squadron at CFB Cold Lake, flying the Canadair CF-116 Freedom Fighter and the McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet. After completing his fighter training, Hadfield flew CF-18 Hornets with 425 Tactical Fighter Squadron, flying intercept missions for NORAD. He was the first CF-18 pilot to intercept a Soviet Tupolev Tu 95 long-range bomber in the Canadian Arctic.

In the late 1980s, Hadfield attended the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base and served as an exchange officer with the U.S. Navy at Strike Test Directorate at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station. His accomplishments from 1989 to 1992 included testing the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet and LTV A-7 Corsair II aircraft; performing research work with NASA on pitch control margin simulation and flight; completing the first military flight of F/A-18 enhanced performance engines; piloting the first flight test of the National Aerospace Plane external burning hydrogen propulsion engine; developing a new handling qualities rating scale for high angle-of-attack test; and participating in the F/A-18 out-of-control recovery test program.

In 1993, Hadfield conducted post-graduate research and obtained a master's degree in aviation systems at the University of Tennessee Space Institute. In total, Hadfield has flown over 70 different types of aircraft.

NASA experience

Chris Hadfield in 2012

Hadfield was selected to become one of four new Canadian astronauts from a field of 5,330 applicants in June 1992. Three of those four (Dafydd Williams, Julie Payette and Hadfield) have flown in space. He was assigned by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas in August of the same year, where he addressed technical and safety issues for Shuttle Operations Development, contributed to the development of the glass shuttle cockpit, and supported shuttle launches at the Kennedy Space Center, in Florida. In addition, Hadfield was NASA's Chief CAPCOM, the voice of mission control to astronauts in orbit, for 25 space shuttle missions. From 1996 to 2000, he represented CSA astronauts and coordinated their activities as the Chief Astronaut for the CSA.

He was the Director of Operations for NASA at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center (GCTC) in Star City, Russia from 2001 until 2003. Some of his duties included coordination and direction of all International Space Station crew activities in Russia, oversight of training and crew support staff, as well as policy negotiation with the Russian Space Program and other International Partners. He also trained and became fully qualified to be a flight engineer cosmonaut in the Soyuz TMA spacecraft, and to perform spacewalks in the Russian Orlan spacesuit.

Hadfield is a civilian CSA astronaut, having retired as a colonel from the Canadian Armed Forces in 2003 after 25 years of military service. He was Chief of Robotics for the NASA Astronaut Office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas from 2003–2006 and was Chief of International Space Station Operations from 2006–2008. In 2008 and 2009, he trained as a back-up to Robert Thirsk on the Expedition 21 mission. In May 2010, Hadfield served as the commander of the NEEMO 14 mission aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory, living and working underwater for fourteen days. NASA announced in 2010 that Hadfield would become the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station, leading Expedition 35 after its launch on 19 December 2012. He is now currently aboard the station after docking on 21 December.

Hadfield is enthusiastic about the prospects for a manned mission to Mars, and when asked if he would consider a one-way journey to Mars to be the first to visit, he said "I would be honoured to be given the opportunity."

Space flights

STS-74

Hadfield served as Mission Specialist 1 on STS-74 in November 1995. It was NASA's second space shuttle mission to rendezvous and dock with the Russian Space Station Mir. During the flight, the crew of Space Shuttle Atlantis attached a five-tonne docking module to Mir and transferred over 1,000 kg of food, water, and scientific supplies to the cosmonauts. He flew as the first Canadian to operate the Canadarm in orbit, and the only Canadian ever to board Mir.

STS-100

Hadfield spacewalking during the STS-100 mission

In April 2001, he served as Mission Specialist 1 on STS-100, International Space Station (ISS) assembly Flight 6A. The crew of Space Shuttle Endeavour delivered and installed Canadarm2, the new Canadian-built robotic arm, as well as the Italian-made resupply module Raffaello. During the 11-day flight, Hadfield performed two spacewalks, which made him the first Canadian to ever leave a spacecraft and float freely in space. In total, Hadfield spent 14 hours, 50 minutes outside, traveling 10 times around the world during his spacewalk.

Music

Hadfield is currently working on the first original music album to be recorded in orbit during his free time on Expedition 35. He will be recording the album using a Larrivée Parlor guitar, Shure microphones, and Cakewalk for recording. The first song recorded in space, Jewel in the Night, was released via YouTube on Christmas Eve 2012. His collaboration with Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies and the Wexford Gleeks, Is Somebody Singing? (sometimes shortened (I.S.S.), was aired on the CBC Radio program Q and released by CBC Music online on 8 February 2013. Hadfield sang Is Somebody Singing along with singers across Canada for the national Music Monday program. Hadfield has been credited musically on his brother Dave Hadfield's albums.

Social media

Hadfield was described as "perhaps the most social media savvy astronaut ever to leave Earth" by Forbes after building a considerable audience on social media, including over 700,000 Twitter followers as of April 2013, and creating one of the top Reddit AmA threads of all time. Hadfield has enlisted the help of his web-savvy sons Evan and Kyle to manage his social media presence.

Special honours and affiliations

Hadfield is the recipient of numerous awards and special honours. These include appointment to the Order of Ontario in 1996 and receipt of the Meritorious Service Cross and Vanier Award in 2001, NASA Exceptional Service Medal in 2002, and the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal in 2003. In 1988, Hadfield was granted the Liethen-Tittle Award (top pilot graduate of the USAF Test Pilot School) and was named US Navy Test Pilot of the Year in 1991. He was inducted into Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame in 2005 and Commemorated on Royal Canadian Mint silver and gold coins for his spacewalk to install Canadarm2 on the International Space Station in 2001. Further, the Royal Military College granted Hadfield an honorary Doctorate of Engineering in 1996 and he was presented with an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Trent University three years later. Upon his taking command of the International Space Station, Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, sent Hadfield a personal message of congratulations, stating "I am pleased to transmit my personal best wishes, and those of all Canadians, to Colonel Christopher Hadfield as he takes command of the International Space Station..."

His affiliations include the membership in the Royal Military College Club, Society of Experimental Test Pilots, and Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute and serving as honorary patron of Lambton College, former trustee of Lakefield College School, board member of the International Space School Foundation, and executive with the Association of Space Explorers.

In Sarnia, the city airport was renamed to Sarnia Chris Hadfield Airport in 1997 and a public school was named after Hadfield. Chris Hadfield Public School, in Milton, Ontario, is part of the Halton District School Board.

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Bibliography

• Dr. Richard Arthur Preston (1982). Canada's RMC – A History of Royal Military College" (2nd ed.).
• R. Guy C. Smith, ed. (1984). As You Were! Ex-Cadets Remember. Vol. II. Kingston, Ontario: Royal Military College of Canada.

External links

• NASA astronaut biography
• CSA astronaut biography
• Chris Hadfield on Twitter
• Spacefacts biography of Chris Hadfield
• Video of Chris Hadfield on The Agenda with Steve Paikin, "Are We Bound for Space?" panel discussion with Lawrence Krauss, Donna Shirley, Chris McKay, Karl Schroeder and Robert D. Richards