After conquering space, what?
Chris Hadfield ‘single-handedly made space sexy again,’ but the Canadian Space Agency, like him, is in budget-cutting limbo, writes MARGARET MUNRO.
EVAN HADFIELD
Son of astronaut Chris Hadfield
Chris Hadfield, also known as “the coolest guy in outer space,” is packing up his camera, guitar and keyboard for his descent back to Earth. But what, exactly, does he return to? Is any career back on solid ground going to be enough?
The 53-year-old farm boy from southern Ontario is due to blaze across the sky in a Russian Soyuz capsule Monday evening before landing on the steppes of Kazakhstan.
His five-month mission to the International Space Station, where Hadfield has been both commander and seemingly nonstop entertainer, has been a sensation. He has enchanted millions with quirky videos, stunning photographs and often-poetic tweets. “This man has single-handedly made space sexy again,” one of his more than 750,000 followers tweeted recently. Former president of the Canadian Space Agency and now Liberal MP Marc Garneau put it this way: “What he’s done is phenomenal.”
There have been charming videos about sleeping, eating, even crying in space. More than 10 million people have watched Hadfield wring out a soaking wet cloth — the veteran astronaut apparently as captivated by the resulting tube of water as the 10th graders in Nova Scotia who suggested the experiment.
Hadfield’s daily photographs and tweets from 350 kilometres up have been a hit, providing a refreshing take on Earth’s beauty and uniqueness.
Hadfield has not said what he plans to do for an encore, but Garneau says some have suggested the spaceman could be prime minister tomorrow if he wanted to run for office.
He would be an even more serious contender for president of Canada’s beleaguered space agency, which is in even worse shape now than when Hadfield left the planet in December. ”Chris would be a very good candidate, but I have no idea if he is interested,” Garneau said.
Hadfield’s tech-savvy son Evan, 28, scoffs at the notion.
“Dad never wants to be a politician or go into the political side of things, and being head of the Canadian Space Agency is 100-per-cent politics,” the younger Hadfield said bluntly this week in an interview from Germany, where he’s been a major force behind his father’s soaring success on social media.
Hadfield’s passion has been space flight and exploration since boyhood. Indeed, his only public complaint from orbit is that he has had to waste time sleeping. “If he could stay in space another 10 years, he would,” said Evan.
Yet the odds of Hadfield, who’s been to space three times, getting back into orbit are slim to none — at least as an astronaut with the Canadian Space Agency.
The CSA has been hit with budget cuts: it’s been asked to trim another $25 million this year. And it is awaiting word on whether the Conservative government will proceed with the overhaul recommended by former Conservative cabinet minister David Emerson, who in November said Canada’s space program had “foundered” and needs clear priorities and plans.
At this stage there are no more missions for Canadian astronauts on the books. And Canada’s two other astronauts would be ahead of Hadfield if an opportunity were to open up.
With Canada’s space program in limbo, the CSA’s veteran flyers have been walking out the door.
On Wednesday Julie Payette, who was hired with Hadfield in 1992 and flew on two missions to the International Space Station, announced she’s off to become the chief operating officer of the Montreal Science Centre and vice-president of the Canada Lands Company.
‘Dad never wants to be a politician or go into the political side of things, and being head of the Canadian Space Agency is 100-per-cent politics.’
In January, former astronaut Steve MacLean quit, five years after the government hailed him as a “modern hero” and appointed him CSA president. MacLean is not talking, but it’s wellknown he was frustrated with the Conservative government, which cut his budget and shelved his plan for moving the agency into the modern age. And Dr. Robert Thirsk, who spent six months aboard the space station in 2009 — becoming the first Canadian to make a long-duration space flight — departed last summer. Thirsk is now a vice-president of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research in Ottawa.
It is hard to imagine Hadfield heading to the office in a grey suit. But there are not exactly a lot of Earth-bound jobs that can take full advantage of astronauts’ skills. Astronauts tend to be driven, brilliant, highly trained technicians with nerves of steel — and in Hadfield’s case, a love of music and entertaining.
“He’s very highly regarded at NASA but he works for and is paid by the CSA,” said Garneau, who worked and partied with Hadfield when they were astronauts together in Houston. “He’ll be at a bit of a crossroads in terms of what he will do. NASA may offer him something, or he may decide to do something in Canada,” said Garneau, noting that many retired astronauts move into the space industry.
Hadfield and his crewmates are to land in Kazakhstan at 10:31 p.m. Ottawa time. Hadfield will be whisked to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for medical tests and debriefing.
His fans are already lamenting his return. “I sure will miss you when you come back to earth,” Glynis Humber posted on Hadfield’s Facebook page after the astronaut posted a “breathtaking” shot of the sun.
But the tweets and Facebook posts are sure to continue as Hadfield takes his first shower, hears his first bird, and gets his first whiff of fresh-cut grass.
“I’m positive a lot of people will really enjoy what he does, especially what we’ve got planned for coming weeks,” said Evan.
Hadfield is expected to at some point head for the family’s Ontario cottage to wind down. He’s already invited actor William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk on Star Trek, to swing by for a cigar and whiskey. See Chris Hadfield perform David Bowie’s Space Oddity at ottawacitizen.com.