Hadfield, Christopher Austin

He received a flight license at the age of 16, two years before graduating from high school. He holds undergraduate degrees in Mechanics ( Royal Military College , Kingston , 1982, with honors) and an MS in Aviation Systems ( University of Tennessee , 1992) ^[4] .

Christopher Hadfield began military service in 1978. He successfully mastered flight skills: in 1980 he was recognized as the best pilot in basic flight courses, in 1983 he became the best graduate of courses where he taught basic skills in piloting jet aircraft. In 1984-1985, he studied at the Fighter Pilot in Cold Lake ( Alberta ) on the CF-5 and CF-18 , in all his flying career he mastered more than 70 types of aircraft.

Over the next three years, Headfield piloted the CF-18 in the 425th squadron of the Air Force of Canada , part of the NORAD system, during the years of its service participated in the interception of the Soviet Tu-95 . Then, after a year of study at the US Air Force test pilot school, he began serving in the United States on a military personnel exchange program ^[4] .

In 1992, Hadfield and three other Canadians were selected by new Canadian astronauts from 5,330 applicants. After a year of training, along with the 14th set of candidates for NASA astronauts, he qualified as a flight specialist ^[2] .

In total, he made three space flights. The first was held in November 1995 , on the shuttle "Atlantis" on the program STS-74 . During this mission, the second docking of the Russian Mir station and the shuttle was carried out. Thus, Hadfield was the only Canadian to visit this orbital station. Also in this flight, he became the first Canadian who controlled the Canadarm manipulator in orbit ^[2] .

The second flight began in April 2001, this time it was a flight on the Endeavor shuttle under the STS-100 program, the purpose of which was to continue assembling the ISS . The Canadarm 2 manipulator and the Raphael cargo module were delivered to the station and installed. During the 11 days of the flight, Headfield twice performed work on the station surface, which made him the first Canadian to go out into space ^[2] .

Currently, Hadfield is a civilian astronaut of the CCA, since he retired in 2003 after 25 years of military service. His assignment to the backup ISS-31 was canceled, but NASA announced that Hadfield would be the first Canadian commander of the ISS on the ISS-35 , and confirmed his appointment to the Soyuz TMA-07M crew, which was launched in December 2012 ^{[5 ] [6]} .

The launch of the Soyuz TMA-07M took place on December 19, 2012, Hadfield arrived as part of the expedition to the station on December 21, as was planned ^[7] .

Hadfield gained popularity by actively highlighting his flight on social networks. On May 12, 2013, he posted on Youtube a cover version of David Bowie's song Space Oddity , which was the first music video filmed in space.

On May 13, 2013, with the completion of the expedition, the ISS-35 departed to the ground ^[8] .

Statistics ^[9]

In addition to space missions, Hadfield participated in NASA's fourteenth Extreme Environment Operations Mission (NEEMO 14), in May 2010.

Chris Hadfield is married to Helen Hadfield (nee Walter). They have three children. He likes to ski, play guitar, sing, ride horses, write, run, play volleyball and squash ^[10] . Amateur radio callsign VA3OOG ^[11] .

• Christopher Hadfield. Guide astronaut on life on Earth. What taught me 4000 hours in orbit. - M .: Alpina non-fiction , 2015. - 324 p. - ISBN 978-5-91671-392-3 .

• Biography on the Canadian Space Agency website
• Christopher Hadfield at spacefacts.de
• How to do it in space. The captain of the ISS crew showed earthlings life in weightlessness // Lenta.ru, April 3, 2013
• Space oddity cover