News Chris Hadfield retiring from Canadian Space Agency

[IronRain]

Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station and a viral Internet sensation for his music video shot aboard the complex, announced his retirement Monday just a month after returning to Earth.

In the waning days of the Expedition 35 mission, a stirring version of David Bowie's Space Oddity was released on YouTube with Hadfield performing the song aboard the station. It has received 15.8 million views.

He lived and worked on the orbiting complex for 144 days, launching atop a Russian Soyuz rocket on Dec. 19 and docking two days later. Along with crewmates Roman Romanenko and Tom Marshburn, he landed May 13 after circling the Earth 2,336 times and traveling 61 million miles.

It was the pinacle of Hadfield's spaceflight career that began with his selection by the Canadian Space Agency in 1992 as one of four new Canadian astronauts from a field of 5,330 applicants.


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Source:
Spaceflightnow.com

 

[Urwumpe]

Well, you should stop, when it is at its best.

 

[Codz]

I wish him luck in his future endeavors. He was certainly an asset to all manned space exploration.

 

[Mantis]

From the sounds of it, he wants to do a lot of travelling around the country promoting space exploration. From the looks of his Facebook page, a lot of posters there would like to see him as Prime Minister!

 

[Mantis]

Here is a video of Hadfield's press conference at the CSA offices near Montreal where he made his announcement.

 

[llarian]

He would be wasted in politics. Look at Garneau's example. He may have the warrior ethic, but would be a babe-in-the-woods against the mediocre lawyers that make up the vast majority of Canadian politicians.

Might be a fresh ethical voice though.

 

[Mantis]

Another honour for Chris Hadfield. Today, Governor General David Johnston presented Chris Hadfield with the Meritorious Service Medal in recognition of his achievements in space. The award of this civilian medal - intended to honour Canadians who "performed an exceptional deed over a limited period of time which has brought great honour to the country." - makes Hadfield the first person ever to be awarded both the military and civilian version of the award.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/chri...torious-service-medal-1.1344432#ixzz2XTHj3ZIJ

 

[RGClark]

A great position would be to head a group developing Canadian commercial space access.

Bob Clark

 

[Mantis]

A great position would be to head a group developing Canadian commercial space access.

Bob Clark

Not a bad idea. We have definitely not heard the last of Chris Hadfield. Not sure what he has in mind, but I suspect that he will continue to be in the public eye for sometime to come.