Discussion Chris Hadfield - "Rockstar" Astronaut

[Mantis]

As a fellow Canadian, I have watched Chris Hadfield's career, especially his recent stint as commander of the ISS with a great deal of pride. Watching him and his numerous videos and Tweets it is obvious that he is a man who very much loves his job and has a passion for sharing it with the rest of the world.

I would suggest that based on his masterful use of Social Media, Colonel Hadfield is arguably the most famous and most recognizable astronaut in service today. He has almost 1 million followers on Twitter and his videos have hundreds of thousands of views. His "Space Oddity" cover has over 12,000,000 hits and it's still climbing.

I believe that this is exactly the type of shot in the arm that the space program needed right now. Colonel Hadfield has worked hard to bring the experience of space to everyone and he has done much to energize a whole new generation much the way greats of the past such as John Glenn energized their generations. It would be easy to dismiss Colonel Hadfield as a product of social media but that would be disingenuous. His fame is a result of his mastery of social media but he is the real deal. He is a veteran astronaut, a former fighter pilot with 25 years experience, a former test pilot and he has several university degrees. Despite all that, he comes across as an "Every man" - the sort of person you would love to sit down with over a beer.

 

[IronRain]

Sounds pretty well actually :thumbup:

 

[Athena]

He could make a book out of the thousands photos he pictured from the ISS...

 

[Alfastar]

Well, what Chris Hadfield did for PR of the whole spaceflight is just amazing. We need more Astronauts / Cosmonauts who will and can use mass media to make the whole society positive towards spaceflight.

 

[Urwumpe]

Well, what Chris Hadfield did for PR of the whole spaceflight is just amazing. We need more Astronauts / Cosmonauts who will and can use mass media to make the whole society positive towards spaceflight.

And who do that despite the agencies trying their best to make people loose interest in spaceflight.

 

[RGClark]

As a fellow, Canadian, I have watched Chris Hadfield's career, especially his recent stint as commander of the ISS with a great deal of pride. Watching him and his numerous videos and Tweets it is obvious that he is a man who very much loves his job and has a passion for sharing it with the rest of the world.

I would suggest that based on his masterful use of Social Media, Colonel Hadfield is arguably the most famous and most recognizable astronaut in service today. He has almost 1 million followers on Twitter and his videos have hundreds of thousands of views. His "Space Oddity" cover has over 12,000,000 hits and it's still climbing.

I believe that this is exactly the type of shot in the arm that the space program needed right now. Colonel Hadfield has worked hard to bring the experience of space to everyone and he has done much to energize a whole new generation much the way greats of the past such as John Glenn energized their generations. It would be easy to dismiss Colonel Hadfield as a product of social media but that would be disingenuous. His fame is a result of his mastery of social media but he is the real deal. He is a veteran astronaut, a former fighter pilot with 25 years experience, a former test pilot and he has several university degrees. Despite all that, he comes across as an "Every man" - the sort of person you would love to sit down with over a beer.

Space Oddity - YouTube

Très cool.

Bob Clark

 

[Andy44]

Forgive my cynicism, but the average member of the public doesn't know what the ISS is used for.

Now they think it is used for noodling around on a guitar and making youtube vids.

Kudos to Mr. Hadfield, though. Sounds good.

 

[Urwumpe]

Now they think it is used for noodling around on a guitar and making youtube vids.

Which is part of the truth. Astronauts are human, too. But then, even if astronauts only work about 8 hours per day like others too, they only have 2 hours of free time every day for themselves. The rest is sleeping, training and housekeeping.

 

[ADSWNJ]

Very nicely done. Salute to you, Col Hadfield and to our Canadian brothers.

 

[Andy44]

Which is part of the truth. Astronauts are human, too. But then, even if astronauts only work about 8 hours per day like others too, they only have 2 hours of free time every day for themselves. The rest is sleeping, training and housekeeping.

The average person has no knowledge of that.

They see Hadfield playing guitar while looking out the window or they saw Alan Shepard playing golf on the moon, and that's what leaves the impression.

 

[Urwumpe]

The average person has no knowledge of that.

They see Hadfield playing guitar while looking out the window or they saw Alan Shepard playing golf on the moon, and that's what leaves the impression.

Many of those also considered George W Bush a capable president, despite him really spending most of the time on his ranch in "holidays".

I don't think you should educate the biggest idiots at all costs.

 

[Andy44]

Many of those also considered George W Bush a capable president, despite him really spending most of the time on his ranch in "holidays".

Keep it in the basement. Aside from being political, it's also factually incorrect.

And it only serves my argument that the public image of a government activity is not the same as what actually goes on.

 

[Aviator]

I took my girlfriend outside once to show her the ISS passing over, i tried to get her interested in the curiosity landing and even now with this video all i manage is a meager "eh".

The thing is, i can relate to it.
My whole life i had known the Eiffel tower exists, where it is, how tall and so on but when i saw it for the first time i was stunned and all i could think was.. it's actually real!
Europe wasn't real to me - i "knew" it existed but somehow didn't believe it just as the world above isn't real to my girlfriend and i fear also a large portion of the world.

It's no suprise really, at school all we ever heard of about space was the 9 planets - before orbiter I like most people thought you would suddenly be weightless once you crossed the magical line 100km above the earth! How can people take an interest in something they don't understand.

 

[TMac3000]

Those men are heroes. Welcome home, fellas

 

[Ghostrider]

And, of course, here is the parody.

Of course, they're poor and have no spaceships.

 

[Izack]

Finally managed to watch the Space Oddity thing - very cool. Public image aside, it was just really awesome watching that. It reinforced the fact that it's people who go into space, not just astronauts.

 

[Mantis]

I just came across this quote from Cmdr. Hadfield and had to share it. He said it entirely off-the-cuff during one of his Question-and-answer sessions with school kids while on board the ISS. A young boy asked him how to go about becoming an astronaut and this is what Cmdr. Hadfield told him:

"Decide in your heart of hearts what really excites and challenges you and start moving your life in that direction. Every decision you make, from what you eat to what you do with your time tonight turns into who you are tomorrow, and the day after that. Look at who you want to be, and start sculpting yourself into that person. You may not get exactly where you thought you'd be but you will be doing things that suit you in a profession you believe in. Don't let life randomly kick you into the adult you don't want to become."

Powerful stuff indeed.

 

[kamaz]

Chris Hadfield posted this on reddit:

Bowie's last day - we had permission for a year, so Space Oddity comes down today.

Hello again reddit!

It has been a year since my son and I created and released the Space Oddity video. We have been amazed and delighted that so many people enjoyed it - and maybe saw what spaceflight can really be like. It helped show that humans have left Earth, and that the Space Station is a new stage, for not just science and exploration, but for our art and music too. With exploration comes insight – with perspective comes self-realization.

We had permission from David Bowie’s people to post the video on YouTube for a year, and that year is up. We are working on renewing the license for it, but as there are no guarantees when it comes to videos shot in space, we thought you might want to have one last look before we take it down.

Thanks for everything. You've all been incredible throughout.

Chris and Evan Hadfield

Edit: Here's an article that details some of the copyright complications.

You know what to do.

 

[Urwumpe]

You know what to do.

You keep, what you kill.

 

[Artlav]

copyright complications

What.
Just F-bombing WHAT?