An Evening with Astronaut, Chris Hadfield

On Sunday 7th December, 600 people were treated to a truly inspirational talk by Commander Chris Hadfield.  Chris was the first Canadian to walk in space and has become one of the most prominent astronauts of our time.  Many of you will know him from his rendition of David Bowie's Space Oddity, which was recorded on the ISS, which he performed in the Great Hall at the end of his talk.

Chris described the moment he decided he wanted to be an astronaut, when at the age of nine he saw the Apollo 11 Moon Landing on the television.  He proceeded to do everything he could to realise this dream, from becoming an air cadet, joining the Royal Canadian Air forces, studying engineering, and becoming a test piolet.  Finally in November 1995, he was on the launch pad ready for his first trip into space.

He decribes astronaunts as the modern day explores, although their journey to space is rather rater than the voages of exploreres of old, only taking 8 minutes and 42 seconds to reach orbit around Earth!  he then described how he ahd needed to learn what to ignore and how to react to the most important things, through asking himself the simple question, 'What could kill me next?'

Chris showed the packed Great Hall some of his 'holiday snaps', from his recent trip to the International Space Station (and his new book) and the audience had fun guessing which part of the world they were looking at.  He then opened the floor for questions, largely from the younger members of the audience, who asked all kinds of things, covering a spectrum from aliens to commercial space travel, and how astronauts dispose of waste.

A huge 'Thank You' to Chris Hadfield for coming to share his experiences with us.

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