I wanted to know more about Earth’s image he indulged, “To see it as an orb, to see it suspended magically in the midst of an endless nothingness – that makes it even more surreal – improbable.” I was an innocent enthralled by a mystical fairy-tale of a faraway fantasy land but this was actually our Earth and via Hadfiled’s account I met my home in a whole new mind expanding way. Envious, yet enraptured, I floated along with the narrator, spellbound by accounts of weightlessness, of flying ‘spacelings’ and meeting the cosmos and our own world so intimately. The main emotion for me was awesome.I was truly awestruck”, here Hadfield used the word ‘awesome’ in its truest sense. So dumbfounded was Hadfield by Earth’s portrait that his voice became increasingly tender, even emotional with each heartfelt description, such as, “Coming face to face with the world was more visually powerful…it was stupefying…it made me stupid it made me slack-jawed and unable to do anything else for a little while.” Back in Melbourne my jaw was also less than firmly set as he continued, “It would have been an insult for me to stop and turn away from the immensity and beauty of looking at the world itself. You just want to grab somebody and say, Look at that! It’s the most beautiful rainbow, or sunset, or explosion, or piece of music that you’ve ever heard in your whole life and it’s perpetual.” I noticed how, lovingly, even passionately, he spoke of our planet’s outer space image which appeared to him as a, “rare and exquisite blue diamond on an endless pillow of black velvet, it is glorious, it is mesmerizingly wonderful, and it’s constantly changing…”. He responded, “I was overwhelmed by the beauty of Earth. I firstly asked about his impressions of Earth from such an exclusive vantage point. With questions short listed and skype sorted, I ventured forth on my expedition – to discover what an astronaut thought, felt and saw from outer space. Binging on the nail biting cliff-hangers, amusing anecdotes, and life lessons found within this page turning odyssey I was thrilled to speak recently with the author himself. Being a self-confessed Space Age junkie myself, (four visits to NASA Houston, personal library of moon mission material, and keen on cosmic matters), I was understandably eager to read An Astronaut’s Guide To Life On Earth, written by this former astronaut. His famous cover of David Bowie’s Space Oddity performed aboard the space station was a genius marriage of art and reality. With skills also extending to writing, music composition, rhythm guitar and vocal artist this is a truly versatile individual. When the evening came I felt secure in my preparation but incredibly nervous.īelow are the two articles I wrote about the experience.įrom test pilot to Commander of the International Space Station, Colonel Chris Hadfield is an accomplished elite professional with many more impressive titles to his record as well as being the first Canadian astronaut. and I had read his recent book, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth. I spent much time scripting questions etc. A date was set for two weeks hence when I was back in Melbourne. Apparently, out of all the questions posted, he chose mine and was available for a skype interview when he got back to Canada. I left it at that and forgot about it.Ībout ten days later, while in Hobart, I received a phone call from the person I’d spoken to who was beside herself with excitement. I was also interested to know what he thought the role of artist could be in relating the experience of an astronaut and/or seeing the cosmos. I was really interested to know if there was any hint of political argy bargy on board the ISS seeing as there were a number of nations represented – in particular – America and Russia. Nothing ventured, hey? I set about finding the relevant contact person who told me he was all booked up but that I could submit a question or two on a chat room blog type thing and he might respond at some stage. I’d seen him on YouTube doing his version of Space Oddity – brilliant idea – and I decided, rather late in the day, that I wanted to interview him for EATT Magazine. Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian astronaut and former Commander of the International Space Station, was coming to town and giving a talk at the writer’s festival.
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