Colonel Chris Hadfield is a highly accomplished astronaut and author from Canada. He has had an impressive career, during which he has achieved many significant milestones. Hadfield has flown three space missions, performed two spacewalks, and built two space stations. He has also crewed both the Soyuz and the Shuttle and was the commander of the International Space Station for half a year.
Hadfield is considered one of the most seasoned and accomplished astronauts in the world. He was the top graduate of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School in 1988 and the U.S. Navy Test Pilot of the Year in 1991. In 1992, he was selected by the Canadian Space Agency to be an astronaut. Hadfield has served in various roles at NASA, including CAPCOM for 25 Shuttle launches, Director of NASA Operations in Star City, Russia, Chief of Robotics at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, and Chief of International Space Station Operations.
While serving as Commander of the International Space Station, Hadfield gained worldwide acclaim for his breathtaking photographs and educational videos about life in space. He conducted a record-setting number of scientific experiments and oversaw an emergency spacewalk. Hadfield's music video, a zero-gravity version of David Bowie's "Space Oddity," received over 10 million views in its first three days online. His TED talk on fear has been viewed over 10 million times. He helped create and host the National Geographic miniseries "One Strange Rock" and has a MasterClass on exploration. Hadfield's books "An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth," "You Are Here," and "The Darkest Dark" have been bestsellers around the world.