InsideHalton Article: Chris Hadfield delights students from space
InsideHalton Article: Chris Hadfield delights students from spac
Looking at South America from the window of the International Space Station, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield encouraged students at the school named after him to pursue their dreams.
Shrill screams and loud clapping echoed through the gym when the 53-year-old astronaut appeared live from space on a huge screen at Chris Hadfield Public School this morning.
“I read you, loud and clear,” he said, and although he wasn’t able to see students, they had a clear picture of him.
Playfully tossing his weightless microphone in the air, the Milton native was only too happy to answer questions and show more than 850 students some tricks from space, including strumming a few chords on his guitar.
The event was made possible thanks to a live video connection set up by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). It also brought astronaut Jeremy Hansen, who grew up in Ingersoll, just outside of London, to the school to share some of his experiences and help co-ordinate the almost half-hour chat.
Students were quick to ask Hadfield how they could become an astronaut.
“How can you become anything? How are you going to grow up to become principal of Chris Hadfield Public School or the mayor of Milton? Or an airline pilot like my dad?” Hadfield said.
“Number one is, decide what you might want to be… Think about it, because it should be something that’s exciting to you, something that you really want to be. And then start turning yourself into that person.
“You can start turning yourself into an astronaut today.”
He said students would have to stay in good shape, know what courses to study and learn how to work. He suggested working around the house, getting a summer job — maybe a paper route.
“The decisions you make everyday turn you into who you’re going to be tomorrow,” he said. “The things I’m doing now, they’re because I started working at it when I was your age.
“Before I was even 10 years old, I decided to be an astronaut, and I started working at it and studying and thinking about it.
“As a result, here I am having a chance to live and work and play guitar on board a spaceship and actually command a spaceship,” Hadfield continued. “If there’s anything that would make me a successful astronaut, it’s because of pursuing my dreams and years of hard work.”
Hadfield’s parents — longtime Miltonians Roger and Eleanor Hadfield — also watched in amazement, chuckling when their son showed his skinny legs that would lose muscle mass in space without strenuous two-hour workouts each day.
“The loss of gravity is confusing to the body at first,” he said. “There’s no balance and without gravity it doesn’t push the blood down to your feet.
“There’s no way of saying which way is up. It all feels like I’m right-side-up.”
But he reassured worried students that his body will return to normal when he returns home in May.
“I’ll re-adapt to being an earthling, but right now I’m a spaceling,” he chuckled.
Clad in a plain T-shirt and beige shorts, Hadfield flexed his calf muscles, then floated over to the porthole of the spacecraft as he glanced out to see Earth.
Students shrieked in delight.
It’s a sight he never gets used to, he said, in response to Grade 5 student Sundas Siddiqui’s question, “what’s the coolest things you’ve ever seen in space?”
He said seeing the glowing red sunrise each morning is beautiful.
In a surreal moment for everyone in the packed gymnasium, Hadfield peered out the window and said, “I can see the world, where we are right now, just off the coast of South America. I can look up and see space, but plus if I look up, I can see the space station.
“The world is this beautiful big blue curve, it’s just gorgeous,” said the astronaut, who along with his team, blasted to space on December 19 from Kazakhstan.
“It’s like a present… It’s like a gift every time that suddenly gets opened, when you go to the window.”
Hadfield told students the one thing he’s most looking forward to upon returning home is taking a hot shower.
“The first thing I’d like to do when I come back home is have a hot shower because on the space station we don’t have any running water, we just have a little tap to get drinking water out of, so when we want to wash we just have to use wash cloths,” said Hadfield, who will become commander of the five-month mission in March.
“I can still talk to my family from here, and the food is good, but I can’t shower.”
He said he misses his family and tries to talk to his wife everyday. He connects with his three children every day via email, video and Skype-like phone calls.
Students asked Hadfield an array of questions that entailed lots of thought, including how stars look from space, if there are any living things in space and how space affects his guitar.
Hadfield said he hasn’t found any living things so far, but told a hushed audience that there are billions and billions of planets that have never been explored.
His guitar needs to be tuned more regularly, he continued, and stars are brighter and perfect from space.
“There are red ones, there are ones that look sort of brownish, there are huge white ones and some of them look sort of blue — it depends what chemicals are in them.
“From the space station, they look like perfect points of light, like an absolutely beautiful perfect diamond of light… They don’t even twinkle, just a piercing, brilliant point of light."
He signed off, promising to tweet a photo of Milton. Hadfield has become a huge presence on Twitter since his launch, with followers leaping to almost 200,000 from his pre-flight following of 22,000.
After the presentation, his parents expressed how thrilled they were to be able to see their son in space.
Some 25 media outlets clamoured to interview the couple, who were visibly proud of their son on his third trip to space.
“Being able to see him and see how healthy he looks, this is a wonderful opportunity,” said Eleanor. “We’ve talked on the phone three time, but this (live video) is a first.?“And something I never imagined happening considering when Chris was growing up the extent of technology the household had was a 16-party phone line.”
His father said he enjoyed the chance to see his son in space, adding he’ll be watching television closely for his return to earth.
“I’m not nervous about him in space,” he said, noting that including himself, there are six pilots in the family. “The return will be a little rocky.”
He said Chris will spend several weeks acclimatizing upon his return in Houston, Texas, and then he’ll be able to come home for a visit.
Chris Hadfield delights students from space
Chris Hadfield delights students from space. While on board the International Space Station, Canadian Space Agency (CSA) Astronaut Chris Hadfield spoke to students of Chris Hadfield Public School live via video link. Some 800 kindergarten to Grade 8 students were assembled in the gymnasium to witness the call, as well as CSA Astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Eric Riehl/Metroland Media Group
Shrill screams and loud clapping echoed through the gym when the 53-year-old astronaut appeared live from space on a huge screen at Chris Hadfield Public School this morning.
“I read you, loud and clear,” he said, and although he wasn’t able to see students, they had a clear picture of him.
Playfully tossing his weightless microphone in the air, the Milton native was only too happy to answer questions and show more than 850 students some tricks from space, including strumming a few chords on his guitar.
The event was made possible thanks to a live video connection set up by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). It also brought astronaut Jeremy Hansen, who grew up in Ingersoll, just outside of London, to the school to share some of his experiences and help co-ordinate the almost half-hour chat.
Students were quick to ask Hadfield how they could become an astronaut.
“How can you become anything? How are you going to grow up to become principal of Chris Hadfield Public School or the mayor of Milton? Or an airline pilot like my dad?” Hadfield said.
“Number one is, decide what you might want to be… Think about it, because it should be something that’s exciting to you, something that you really want to be. And then start turning yourself into that person.
“You can start turning yourself into an astronaut today.”
He said students would have to stay in good shape, know what courses to study and learn how to work. He suggested working around the house, getting a summer job — maybe a paper route.
“The decisions you make everyday turn you into who you’re going to be tomorrow,” he said. “The things I’m doing now, they’re because I started working at it when I was your age.
“Before I was even 10 years old, I decided to be an astronaut, and I started working at it and studying and thinking about it.
“As a result, here I am having a chance to live and work and play guitar on board a spaceship and actually command a spaceship,” Hadfield continued. “If there’s anything that would make me a successful astronaut, it’s because of pursuing my dreams and years of hard work.”
Hadfield’s parents — longtime Miltonians Roger and Eleanor Hadfield — also watched in amazement, chuckling when their son showed his skinny legs that would lose muscle mass in space without strenuous two-hour workouts each day.
“The loss of gravity is confusing to the body at first,” he said. “There’s no balance and without gravity it doesn’t push the blood down to your feet.
“There’s no way of saying which way is up. It all feels like I’m right-side-up.”
But he reassured worried students that his body will return to normal when he returns home in May.
“I’ll re-adapt to being an earthling, but right now I’m a spaceling,” he chuckled.
Clad in a plain T-shirt and beige shorts, Hadfield flexed his calf muscles, then floated over to the porthole of the spacecraft as he glanced out to see Earth.
Students shrieked in delight.
It’s a sight he never gets used to, he said, in response to Grade 5 student Sundas Siddiqui’s question, “what’s the coolest things you’ve ever seen in space?”
He said seeing the glowing red sunrise each morning is beautiful.
In a surreal moment for everyone in the packed gymnasium, Hadfield peered out the window and said, “I can see the world, where we are right now, just off the coast of South America. I can look up and see space, but plus if I look up, I can see the space station.
“The world is this beautiful big blue curve, it’s just gorgeous,” said the astronaut, who along with his team, blasted to space on December 19 from Kazakhstan.
“It’s like a present… It’s like a gift every time that suddenly gets opened, when you go to the window.”
Hadfield told students the one thing he’s most looking forward to upon returning home is taking a hot shower.
“The first thing I’d like to do when I come back home is have a hot shower because on the space station we don’t have any running water, we just have a little tap to get drinking water out of, so when we want to wash we just have to use wash cloths,” said Hadfield, who will become commander of the five-month mission in March.
“I can still talk to my family from here, and the food is good, but I can’t shower.”
He said he misses his family and tries to talk to his wife everyday. He connects with his three children every day via email, video and Skype-like phone calls.
Students asked Hadfield an array of questions that entailed lots of thought, including how stars look from space, if there are any living things in space and how space affects his guitar.
Hadfield said he hasn’t found any living things so far, but told a hushed audience that there are billions and billions of planets that have never been explored.
His guitar needs to be tuned more regularly, he continued, and stars are brighter and perfect from space.
“There are red ones, there are ones that look sort of brownish, there are huge white ones and some of them look sort of blue — it depends what chemicals are in them.
“From the space station, they look like perfect points of light, like an absolutely beautiful perfect diamond of light… They don’t even twinkle, just a piercing, brilliant point of light."
He signed off, promising to tweet a photo of Milton. Hadfield has become a huge presence on Twitter since his launch, with followers leaping to almost 200,000 from his pre-flight following of 22,000.
After the presentation, his parents expressed how thrilled they were to be able to see their son in space.
Some 25 media outlets clamoured to interview the couple, who were visibly proud of their son on his third trip to space.
“Being able to see him and see how healthy he looks, this is a wonderful opportunity,” said Eleanor. “We’ve talked on the phone three time, but this (live video) is a first.?“And something I never imagined happening considering when Chris was growing up the extent of technology the household had was a 16-party phone line.”
His father said he enjoyed the chance to see his son in space, adding he’ll be watching television closely for his return to earth.
“I’m not nervous about him in space,” he said, noting that including himself, there are six pilots in the family. “The return will be a little rocky.”
He said Chris will spend several weeks acclimatizing upon his return in Houston, Texas, and then he’ll be able to come home for a visit.
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Friday, January 18, 2013
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