57 Facts About Chris Hadfield

1.

Chris Austin Hadfield was born on August 29,1959 and is a Canadian retired astronaut, engineer, fighter pilot, musician, and writer.

2.

Chris Hadfield attended high school in Oakville and Milton in southern Ontario, and earned his glider pilot licence as a member of the Royal Canadian Air Cadets.

3.

Chris Hadfield learned to fly various types of aircraft in the military and eventually became a test pilot, flying several experimental planes.

4.

In 1992, Chris Hadfield was accepted into the Canadian astronaut program by the Canadian Space Agency.

5.

Chris Hadfield first flew in space in November 1995 as a mission specialist aboard, visiting the Russian space station Mir.

6.

Chris Hadfield flew again in April 2001 on, when he visited the ISS and walked in space to help install Canadarm2.

7.

When Expedition 34 ended in March 2013, Chris Hadfield became the commander of the ISS as part of Expedition 35, responsible for a crew of five astronauts and helping to run dozens of scientific experiments dealing with the impact of low gravity on human biology.

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8.

Chris Hadfield was a guest on television news and talk shows and gained popularity by playing the ISS's guitar in space.

9.

Chris Hadfield returned to Earth in May 2013, when the mission ended.

10.

Chris Hadfield announced his retirement shortly after returning, capping a 35-year-long career as a military pilot and astronaut.

11.

Chris Hadfield has five published books including his autobiography, the NYT-bestseller An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth.

12.

Chris Hadfield's parents are Roger and Eleanor Hadfield, who live in Milton, Ontario.

13.

Chris Hadfield was raised on a corn farm in southern Ontario.

14.

Chris Hadfield was a member of a Wolf Cub Pack that met at the Milton Fairgrounds.

15.

Chris Hadfield became interested in flying at a young age and in being an astronaut at age nine, when he saw the Apollo 11 Moon landing on television.

16.

Chris Hadfield is married to his high-school girlfriend Helene, with whom he has three children: Kyle, Evan, and Kristin Hadfield.

17.

Chris Hadfield used to be a ski instructor at Glen Eden Ski Area before becoming a test pilot.

18.

Chris Hadfield is a devoted fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and wore a Leafs jersey under his spacesuit during his Soyuz TMA-07M re-entry in May 2013.

19.

Chris Hadfield sang the Canadian National Anthem during the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens game on January 18,2014, at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario.

20.

Chris 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.

21.

Chris Hadfield conducted his post-graduate research at the University of Waterloo in 1982.

22.

Chris Hadfield was the first CF-18 pilot to intercept a Soviet Tupolev Tu 95 long-range bomber in the Canadian Arctic.

23.

In total, Chris Hadfield has flown over 70 different types of aircraft.

24.

Chris Hadfield was selected to become one of four new Canadian astronauts from a field of 5,330 applicants in June 1992.

25.

Chris Hadfield was the director of operations for NASA at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia from 2001 until 2003.

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26.

Chris Hadfield 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.

27.

Chris Hadfield is a civilian CSA astronaut, having retired as a colonel from the Canadian Armed Forces in 2003 after 25 years of military service.

28.

Chris Hadfield was chief of robotics for the NASA Astronaut Office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas from 2003 to 2006 and was chief of International Space Station Operations from 2006 to 2008.

29.

In May 2010, Chris Hadfield served as the commander of the NEEMO 14 mission aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory, living and working underwater for fourteen days.

30.

NASA announced in 2010 that Chris Hadfield would become the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station, leading Expedition 35 after its launch on December 19,2012.

31.

Chris Hadfield remained on the station for five months, transferring control to Pavel Vinogradov and departing on May 13,2013.

32.

In June 2013, one month after completing his third trip to space, Chris Hadfield announced his retirement from the Canadian Space Agency, effective July 3,2013.

33.

Chris Hadfield served as mission specialist 1 on STS-74 in November 1995.

34.

Chris Hadfield flew as the first Canadian to operate the Canadarm in orbit, and the only Canadian ever to board Mir.

35.

In total, Chris Hadfield spent 14 hours, 50 minutes outside, travelling 10 times around the world during his spacewalk.

36.

On December 19,2012, Chris Hadfield launched in the Soyuz TMA-07M flight for a long duration stay on board the ISS as part of Expedition 35.

37.

Chris Hadfield arrived at the station two days later, as scheduled, and became the first Canadian to command the ISS when the crew of Expedition 34 departed in March 2013.

38.

Chris Hadfield received significant media exposure during his time on the ISS, and ended his time on the station by paying tribute to David Bowie with a rendition of "Space Oddity".

39.

Chris Hadfield created one of the top Reddit ask me anything threads of all time on February 17,2013.

40.

Chris Hadfield has been described by Forbes as "perhaps the most social media savvy astronaut ever to leave Earth".

41.

Chris Hadfield enlisted the help of his son Evan to manage his social media presence.

42.

Chris Hadfield sang Is Somebody Singing along with singers across Canada for the national Music Monday program.

43.

Chris Hadfield has been credited musically on his brother Dave Chris Hadfield's albums.

44.

Chris Hadfield has performed with his brother the "Canada Song", which was released on YouTube on Canada Day, 2014.

45.

On May 12,2013, after handing over command of the ISS, but before returning home, Chris Hadfield released a music video recorded on the ISS of a modified rendition of "Space Oddity" by David Bowie.

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46.

In October 2015, Chris Hadfield released Space Sessions: Songs From a Tin Can, an album of songs that he had recorded on the International Space Station.

47.

On October 8,2013, the University of Waterloo announced that Chris Hadfield will join the university as a professor for a three-year term beginning in the Fall of 2014.

48.

Chris Hadfield's work is expected to involve instructing and advising roles in aviation programs offered by the Faculty of Environment and Faculty of Science, as well as assisting in ongoing research regarding the health of astronauts with the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences.

49.

Chris Hadfield hosted a web series about space exploration on the video platform MasterClass.

50.

Chris Hadfield is the recipient of numerous awards and special honours.

51.

Chris Hadfield is the only Canadian to have received both a military and civilian Meritorious Service Cross, the military medal in 2001 and the civilian one in 2013.

52.

In 1988, Chris Hadfield was granted the Liethen-Tittle Award and was named US Navy Test Pilot of the Year in 1991.

53.

Chris Hadfield 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.

54.

In 2013, Chris Hadfield was presented with an Honorary Diploma from Nova Scotia Community College.

55.

Chris Hadfield's affiliations include membership in the Royal Military College Club, Society of Experimental Test Pilots, 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.

56.

The NASA Marshall Space Flight Center-run rocket factory at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where he briefly worked, and an asteroid 14143 Chris Hadfield are named after him.

57.

In 2005,820 Milton Blue Thunder Squadron was renamed 820 Chris Hadfield Squadron in honour of Hadfield, who was a cadet there from 1971 to 1978.