The École Arthur Meighen School Grade 8 students had a chance to personally ask Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield questions in a Skype video conference call Wednesday.
Hadfield is a retired Canadian astronaut, engineer, and was a Royal Canadian Air Force fighter pilot. He was also the first Canadian to make a spacewalk, and flew on two Space Shuttle missions and was commander of the International Space Station.
"Why do you feel it is so important to take this time to talk to us?"
"Let's say you had flown in space three times," answered Hadfield. "What would you do with the experience? You tell me."
"Talk to other people, I guess."
"Would you write a book?"
"Probably."
"I was trusted to be one of Canada's astronauts and fly in space three times," adds Hadfield. "So, what do you do with an experience like that? I think I have a big obligation as a Canadian citizen to share it as best I can."
Toews says it was cool to personally ask Hadfield a question, especially noting he was the first Canadian to walk in space. She adds she has a little bit of a desire to go into space, herself.
Isaiah Woods asked Hadfield what happens when an astronaut gets sick in space, breaks a bone or needs other medical attention. He notes Hadfield explained that many on the International Space Station are either professional doctors or know first-aid and can assist in most things.
Woods says speaking to a famous man like Hadfield made him a little nervous at first, noting it was such a thrill.
When another student asked why he chose to be an astronaut, Hadfield explained everyone in the class is going to grow up to be something. He notes they could let life decide for them, but what if they did not like what life decided for them? He informed them that they might be the best moto-cross rider, or the world's best painter or politician. Hadfield says we don't know, but if we don't give ourselves the chance, life could become very limited. He says what excited him and inspired him was asking himself, if his life went perfectly, who did he want to be, or what did he want to do. At age 13, he considered the choices that would give him a chance to do what really excited him.
Hadfield notes another way to decide on your career is to ask yourself what irritates you about life that must be changed. He says you could turn out to be the person who resolves those things. He notes that he thought that if he wanted to be anything he could be, why not be an astronaut?
Another student asked him if there were any dangerous times that he experienced in space. Hadfield replied that there are always things that go wrong. During Canada's first spacewalk, he says he was outside of the vehicle and both of his eyes were temporarily struck blind by contamination in his suit.
He notes another time was when they were coming in to dock with a Russian space station, and all their equipment failed causing them to navigate completely by eye. Hadfield says they could not be guided by any electronic equipment. He adds, for the first time, they had to dock with the station based solely on their stopwatch and eyeballs.
Finally, he notes, four days before he came home from his third flight, at the end of the space station, a leak of liquid ammonia occurred spewing it into space. Hadfield says that was the main coolant for the whole ship that required an emergency spacewalk to make repairs. Otherwise, he notes, they would have had to abandon ship and the ship would have been ruined.
Hadfield adds it's for these types of occurrences that he studied every day for twenty years, noting that when things go wrong you're usually the only one that can fix it. To improve your chances of success, he says, you have to prepare in advance.
Wed, Jun 19, 7:00 PM
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