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Chris Hadfield - Blog Posts
Chris Hadfield: What I learned from going blind in space
There’s an astronaut saying: In space, “there is no problem so bad that you can’t make it worse.” So how do you deal with the complexity, the sheer pressure, of dealing with dangerous and scary situations? Retired colonel Chris Hadfield paints a vivid portrait of how to be prepared for the worst in space (and life) – and it starts with walking into a spider’s web. Watch for a special space-y performance.
“Why don’t you fix your little problem and light this candle?” - Huge respect to Al Shepard, 58 years ago today in this little capsule. (at Chabot Space & Science Center) https://www.instagram.com/p/BxFuV03He9Y/?igshid=q8orkqflc1wr
I imagine most people wanted to be astronauts when they learned it was a job they could have - I certainly did! And then I thought about it and realized podcasting about outer space was much less scary and much more achievable than becoming an astronaut, with the bonus of not having to wonder how hard I’d panic in an enclosed-yet-surrounded-by-vastness space. There have been a lot of people braver than me who went to space, and some of them went to space on long-term missions lasting months or a year, living on the International Space Station (or the historical equivalent, depending on when in history this happened). Learn what resources are available to ISS astronauts, and what risks there are out there (apart from the obvious ones).
Sorry I missed last week, but it was New Year’s and I don’t feel very guilty. Get excited about more space podcasts in 2018, though! Below the cut are my sources, music credits, a vocab list, and the transcript of this episode. I bolded any videos or sources that I mentioned in the podcast, if you’re looking for those specifically. Go ahead and suggest what you think I should research next by messaging me here, tweeting at me at @HDandtheVoid, or asking me to my face if you know me. Please subscribe on iTunes, rate it and maybe review it, and tell friends if you think they’d like to hear it!
(My thoughts on the next episode are more about astronauts, or I could go into the transit of Venus. I have a couple books about space I should really get into reading… The next episode will go up January 22nd.)
Glossary
free fall - the downward movement of an object that is due to the force of gravity alone.
gravity - the phenomenon which causes all things with mass to move towards each other. On the universal scale, this is caused by the warping of spacetime by objects with large mass, e.g. stars and planets, and is explained through Einstein’s theory of general relativity.
microgravity - the state of perpetual free fall in a gravity field.
orbit - the gravitationally curved trajectory of an object, e.g. the trajectory of a satellite around a planet.
Script/Transcript
Sources
Yuri Gagarin via NASA
Microgravity via NASA (Feb 2012)
The history of astronaut life via the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum
Menstruation in space via National Geographic (Apr 2016)
The Air We Breathe via the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
Breathing Easy on the Space Station via NASA (Nov 2000)
Jay Perry: “the chemical-mechanical systems are much more compact, less labor intensive, and more reliable than a plant-based system.”
Astronaut’s Home Videos Show How to Cook in Space via Space.com (Mar 2013)
Astronaut Hygiene: How to Wash Your Hair In Space (Video) via Space.com (July 2013)
Interview with former astronaut Prof. Jeremy Hoffman via the University of Leicester
A day in the life aboard the International Space Station via NASA (2015)
Zvezda Module Overview via NASA
Food for Space Flight via Nasa (Feb 2004)
John Glenn via NASA (Feb 2012)
Crew From U.S., Russia and Japan Expands Space Population to Six via NASA (Dec 2017)
ISS blog with experiment updates via NASA
Astronaut daily life via ESA (Nov 2012)
The Skylab 4 Mutiny, 1973 via libcom.org (Apr 2004)
Carr: “On the ground, I don’t think we would be expected to work a 16-hour day for 85 days, and so I really don’t see why we should even try to do it up here.”
‘Space Oddity’ by Chris Hadfield via YouTube
Interview with astronaut Chris Hadfield via NPR (Oct 2013)
Col. Chris Hadfield: “The contrast of your body and your mind inside … essentially a one-person spaceship, which is your spacesuit, where you’re holding on for dear life to the shuttle or the station with one hand, and you are inexplicably in between what is just a pouring glory of the world roaring by, silently next to you — just the kaleidoscope of it, it takes up your whole mind. It’s like the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen just screaming at you on the right side, and when you look left, it’s the whole bottomless black of the universe and it goes in all directions. It’s like a huge yawning endlessness on your left side and you’re in between those two things and trying to rationalize it to yourself and trying to get some work done.”
Excerpt from memoir by former astronaut Scott Kelly via the Sunday Morning Herald (Oct 2017)
Intro Music: ‘Better Times Will Come’ by No Luck Club off their album Prosperity
Filler Music: ‘Major Tom’ by Shiny Toy Guns off their album Major Tom.
Background Music: ‘Leaves’ by Patients aka Ben Cooper, who primarily releases music as Radical Face but also has at least three other bands or band names he’s working with/has released music as.
Outro Music: ‘Fields of Russia’ by Mutefish off their album On Draught
Voyager is so happy, because it’s the bravest satellite of all. It has gone the furthest. And it’s not lonely, because it’s talking to us. It phones home. And it tells us all about the wonderful things that it’s seeing. …There’s a whole universe to explore, and it’s just leaving our Solar System right now. It’s very brave and very lucky to be doing what it’s doing, so it’s not going to get lost. It’s traveled further than anything we’ve ever built has traveled before. It’s actually showing us the way. … It might have been safer for it to just stay home, and stay inside a building, but then it would have been sad forever, because it never would have done its purpose. It never would have discovered things. It’s all a wonderful story of great discovery and success, and it couldn’t have happened if Voyager hadn’t been brave… It’s not really the fact that everything always has a start and an end, it’s what happens in the middle that counts. What do you while you’re alive? What do you do while you’re laughing? And I think we’re doing exactly what makes Voyager joyful and as happy as it could be. Think about the fact that you’re a little bit like Voyager. In that you’re going to go see the world, and you’re going to call your mom on the phone and tell her about the wonderful things that you see. … You wouldn’t want to spend your whole life hiding under your bed and never seeing anything in your whole life, you want to be able to do what makes you happy and joyful and learn about things to discover. You might be the person that discovers something really important for everybody else on the world, but you can never discover that if you just hide and only do things that are safe. So think about yourself a little bit like Voyager. What makes you laugh? It’s not just staying, hiding underneath your bed safely at home.
Cmdr. Chris Hadfield, reassuring a five-year-old who was worried about the Voyager satellite (source)
oh no I’m having feelings about a satellite
tagging Doctor Who, because.
(via reconditarmonia)