Chris Hadfield has done some interesting things in his life, but nothing as cool as a spacewalk.
"You are in you're spacesuit and your holding onto the space station with one hand. If you look to the left, it's the whole universe and the only thing between you and the universe is the plastic of your visor. When you look to the right, the whole world is just pouring by next to you ... You're there by yourself, just trying to soak all of that up," said Hadfield, a Canadian astronaut, who was at the Saskatchewan Science Centre in Regina on Wednesday speaking to students about the life of an astronaut.
Hadfield, 51, will be the next Canadian astronaut to fly to the International Space Station and the first ever to command the station when he does his next mission, Expedition 34/35, in December 2012. It was 50 years ago on Tuesday when Russian Yuri Garagin became the first human to travel into space.
"Canada has been in space almost as long as any other country on Earth," said Hadfield. "Now we're to a stage where Canada is trusted to command a spaceship. It's an amazing development over time and I'm the lucky Canadian that will launch that next year."
Hadfield was the first Canadian to perform a spacewalk when he installed Canadarm2 on the station 10 years ago and is one of 15 Canadians to have ever been in space. For his next mission, he will be living on the station for six months and be in command for the last three months, orbiting around Earth 16 times a day.
The Milton, Ont., native had students fully engaged while speaking about his career.
"As an astronaut, my No. 1 job is to fly in space safely and I spend a vast amount of my time training," said Hadfield. "But about two days a month, it's also important to come and tell Canadians some of the things that exist out there for them."
Hadfield, who lives and trains in Houston, Texas, and Star City, Russia, is also making stops in Winnipeg, Kingston and Toronto.
"I just want young Canadians to see some of the amazing things Canada is offering them," he said. "When I was a kid ... there was no such thing as a Canadian astronaut."
One of the biggest things about being an astronaut, is the training involved.
"I've been an astronaut for 19 years and I've been in space for 21 days," he said. "Being an astronaut is a life of training. That's all we do."
Hadfield held students' attention for over an hour, telling them what is was like to be in space.
"Without gravity, you don't need strong muscles and you don't need a fixed skeleton because you aren't fighting gravity," said Hadfield, who is in excellent physical shape. "But we come back to Earth, so we want to have muscles and a skeleton when we come back, so we exercise about two hours a day to keep our muscles strong."
While on his next mission, Hadfield will conduct dozens of experiments with other astronauts from across the world.
"The main purpose of being there is to run experiments with no gravity," he said.
They will study a variety of things from body reactions, how particles behave, how plants grow and looking at the climate and world disasters.
Read more: http://www.leaderpost.com/technology/Spacewalks+cool+says+astronaut/4615589/story.html#ixzz1JWaEKzv9
"You are in you're spacesuit and your holding onto the space station with one hand. If you look to the left, it's the whole universe and the only thing between you and the universe is the plastic of your visor. When you look to the right, the whole world is just pouring by next to you ... You're there by yourself, just trying to soak all of that up," said Hadfield, a Canadian astronaut, who was at the Saskatchewan Science Centre in Regina on Wednesday speaking to students about the life of an astronaut.
Hadfield, 51, will be the next Canadian astronaut to fly to the International Space Station and the first ever to command the station when he does his next mission, Expedition 34/35, in December 2012. It was 50 years ago on Tuesday when Russian Yuri Garagin became the first human to travel into space.
"Canada has been in space almost as long as any other country on Earth," said Hadfield. "Now we're to a stage where Canada is trusted to command a spaceship. It's an amazing development over time and I'm the lucky Canadian that will launch that next year."
Hadfield was the first Canadian to perform a spacewalk when he installed Canadarm2 on the station 10 years ago and is one of 15 Canadians to have ever been in space. For his next mission, he will be living on the station for six months and be in command for the last three months, orbiting around Earth 16 times a day.
The Milton, Ont., native had students fully engaged while speaking about his career.
"As an astronaut, my No. 1 job is to fly in space safely and I spend a vast amount of my time training," said Hadfield. "But about two days a month, it's also important to come and tell Canadians some of the things that exist out there for them."
Hadfield, who lives and trains in Houston, Texas, and Star City, Russia, is also making stops in Winnipeg, Kingston and Toronto.
"I just want young Canadians to see some of the amazing things Canada is offering them," he said. "When I was a kid ... there was no such thing as a Canadian astronaut."
One of the biggest things about being an astronaut, is the training involved.
"I've been an astronaut for 19 years and I've been in space for 21 days," he said. "Being an astronaut is a life of training. That's all we do."
Hadfield held students' attention for over an hour, telling them what is was like to be in space.
"Without gravity, you don't need strong muscles and you don't need a fixed skeleton because you aren't fighting gravity," said Hadfield, who is in excellent physical shape. "But we come back to Earth, so we want to have muscles and a skeleton when we come back, so we exercise about two hours a day to keep our muscles strong."
While on his next mission, Hadfield will conduct dozens of experiments with other astronauts from across the world.
"The main purpose of being there is to run experiments with no gravity," he said.
They will study a variety of things from body reactions, how particles behave, how plants grow and looking at the climate and world disasters.
Read more: http://www.leaderpost.com/technology/Spacewalks+cool+says+astronaut/4615589/story.html#ixzz1JWaEKzv9