Hadfield Credit: www.spacefacts.de |
Status: Inactive; Active 1992-2013. Born: 1959-08-19. Spaceflights: 3 . Total time in space: 165.68 days. Birth Place: Sarnia, Ontario.
Grew up in Milton, Ontario. Educated Kingston; Tennessee; Edwards.
Col. Chris A. Hadfield
Personal Profile: Born August 29, 1959, in Sarnia, and raised in Milton, Ontario. Colonel Chris Hadfield is married to Helene Hadfield (née Walter). They have three children. He enjoys skiing, playing guitar, singing, riding, writing, running, and playing volleyball and squash. His parents, Roger and Eleanor Hadfield, reside near Milton. Her mother, Gwendoline Walter, resides in Victoria, B.C. Her father, Erhard Walter, is deceased.
Education: Graduated as an Ontario Scholar from Milton District High School in 1977; Received a bachelor degree in mechanical engineering (with honours), Royal Military College, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, in 1982; Conducted post-graduate research at the University of Waterloo, Ontario in 1982; Received a Master of Science in aviation systems at the University of Tennessee in 1992.
Affiliations: Royal Military College Club; Society of Experimental Test Pilots; Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute, Honourary Patron of Lambton College; Trustee of Lakefield College School; Board member of the International Space School Foundation; Executive with the Association of Space Explorers.
Special Honours: Recipient of the 1988 Liethen-Tittle Award (top pilot graduate of the USAF Test Pilot School). U.S. Navy Test Pilot of the Year (1991). Honorary Doctorate of Engineering from the Royal Military College (1996). Member of the Order of Ontario (1996). Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Trent University (1999). Vanier Award (2001). Meritorious Service Cross (2001). NASA Exceptional Service Medal (2002). Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal (2003). Inducted into Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame (2005). Commemorated on Royal Canadian Mint silver and gold coins for his spacewalk to install Canadarm2 on the International Space Station (2006).
Experience: Raised on a corn farm in southern Ontario, Chris Hadfield became interested in flying from a young age. As an Air Cadet, he won a glider pilot scholarship at age 15 and a powered pilot scholarship at age 16. He also taught skiing and ski racing part- and full-time for 10 years.
Hadfield joined the Canadian Armed Forces in May 1978. He spent two years at Royal Roads Military College, in Victoria, British Columbia, followed by two years at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, where he received a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering (with honours) in 1982. Hadfield underwent basic flight training in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, for which he was named top pilot in 1980. In 1983, he took honours as the overall top graduate from Basic Jet Training in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and in 1984-1985, he trained as a fighter pilot in Cold Lake, Alberta on CF-5s and CF-18s.
For the next three years Hadfield flew CF-18s for the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) with 425 Squadron, during which time he flew the first CF-18 intercept of a Soviet "Bear" aircraft. He attended the United States Air Force (USAF) Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, in California, and upon graduation, served as an exchange officer with the U. S. Navy at Strike Test Directorate at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station. His accomplishments from 1989 to 1992 included testing the F/A-18 and A-7 aircraft; performing research work with NASA on pitch control margin simulation and flight; completing the first military flight of F/A-18 enhanced performance engines; piloting the first flight test of the National Aerospace Plane external burning hydrogen propulsion engine; developing a new handling qualities rating scale for high angle-of-attack test; and participating in the F/A-18 out-of-control recovery test program. In total, Hadfield has flown over 70 different types of aircraft.
In June 1992 Chris Hadfield was selected to become one of four new Canadian astronauts from a field of 5330 applicants. He was assigned by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas in August of the same year, where he addressed technical and safety issues for Shuttle Operations Development, contributed to the development of the glass shuttle cockpit, and supported shuttle launches at the Kennedy Space Center, in Florida. In addition, Hadfield was NASA's Chief CapCom, the voice of mission control to astronauts in orbit, for 25 space shuttle missions. From 1996 to 2000, he represented CSA astronauts and coordinated their activities as the Chief Astronaut for the CSA.
From 2001-2003, Hadfield was the Director of Operations for NASA at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre (GCTC) in Star City, Russia. His work included coordination and direction of all International Space Station crew activities in Russia, oversight of training and crew support staff, as well as policy negotiation with the Russian Space Program and other International Partners. He also trained and became fully qualified to be a flight engineer cosmonaut in the Soyuz TMA spacecraft, and to perform spacewalks in the Russian Orlan spacesuit.
Hadfield is a civilian CSA astronaut, having retired as a Colonel from the Canadian Air Force in 2003 after 25 years of military service. He was Chief of Robotics for the NASA Astronaut Office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas from 2003-2006, and is now Chief of International Space Station Operations.
Space flights: In November 1995 Hadfield served as Mission Specialist 1 on STS-74, NASA's second space shuttle mission to rendezvous and dock with the Russian Space Station Mir. During the flight, the crew of Space Shuttle Atlantis attached a five-tonne docking module to Mir and transferred over 1,000 kg of food, water, and scientific supplies to the cosmonauts. Hadfield flew as the first Canadian mission specialist, the first Canadian to operate the Canadarm in orbit, and the only Canadian to ever board Mir.
In April 2001 Hadfield served as Mission Specialist 1 on STS-100 International Space Station (ISS) assembly Flight 6A. The crew of Space Shuttle Endeavour delivered and installed Canadarm2, the new Canadian-built robotic arm, as well as the Italian-made resupply module Raffaello. During the 11-day flight, Hadfield performed two spacewalks, which made him the first Canadian to ever leave a spacecraft and float freely in space. In total, Hadfield spent 14 hours, 54 minutes outside, travelling 10 times around the world.
August 2006
Rendezvoused and docked with Mir space station on November 15. Delivered the Russian-built 316GK Shuttle-Mir docking module to Mir.Payloads: Shuttle-Mir Mission 2; docking module with two attached solar arrays; IMAX Cargo Bay Camera (ICBC); Glow Experiment (GLO-4)/ Photogrammetric Appendage Structural Dynamics Experiment (PASDE) Payload (GPP); Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) II.
Propellant conservation measures have paid off and Endeavour's crew was notified this morning that the mapping operations will continue for the full nine days as planned prior to launch. "That's great news," replied Pilot Dom Gorie. "They're getting some fantastic data on this mission." Additional Details: here....
Mission managers late this afternoon announced a nine-hour extension to the data-taking portion of the mission. That means that mapping of the Earth now will continue until about 6 a.m. Monday. Astronaut Chris Hadfield in Mission Control relayed the good news shortly before 4 p.m. to Commander Kevin Kregel and the rest of Endeavour's crew. "That's super news," Kregel replied. "I'm sure the folks at the Jet Propulsion Lab and NIMA are really ecstatic about that." Additional Details: here....
The International Space Station has become home to its new residents - the Expedition Two crew of Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms - who are settling in for a four-month stay after assuming command of the complex 10 days ago. Additional Details: here....
Space Shuttle OV-105 Endeavour was launched on mission STS-100 to carry out International Space Station Flight 6A continued the outfitting of the Station. The crew of four Americans, one Russian, one Canadian and one Italian were to install an 18 meter, 1,700 kg Canadian robotic arm named Canadarm-2 on the ISS, and to transport an Italian cargo container, Raffaello, which delivered 4,500 kg of supplies and equipment to the station. Total payload of 13,744 kg consisted of:
On 23 April the SSRMS station manipulator was unberthed from the SLP Spacelab pallet at 1114 GMT and latched on to the PDGF fixture on the Destiny ISS module at 1416 GMT. This was followed at 1458 GMT with the MPLM-2 Raffaello module being moved from Endeavour's payload bay by the Shuttle's RMS and berthed to the nadir port on the ISS Unity module at 1600 GMT. Over the next few days, the cargo racks on the MPLM were transferred to Destiny. Raffaello was then unberthed from Unity at 2003 GMT on April 27 and reberthed in the rear of Endeavour's bay for return to earth at 2059 GMT.
Undocking of Endeavour was delayed by a series of computer problems at the Station. Failures in the Station's command and control computers left only one of the three computers operating.
They were all restarted by April 29, and the Shuttle RMS grappled the Spacelab pallet at 2044 GMT . The station's Canadarm-2 released it at 2106 GMT, and the RMS berthed the pallet back in the Shuttle cargo bay. Endeavour undocked from the Station at 1734 GMT on April 29. The weather in Florida was bad at the planned May 1 landing time, so Endeavour landed in California. The deorbit burn was at 1502 GMT on May 1, with landing at 1610:42 GMT on runway 22 at Edwards. Endeavour returned to the Kennedy Space Center atop a Boeing 747 SCA aircraft on May 9.
The crew of the shuttle Endeavour worked this morning to prepare for its Saturday docking with the International Space Station and for the two planned spacewalks while there. The chase to catch up with the waiting station and its Expedition Two crew continues with another in the series of rendezvous maneuvers scheduled for about 5:30 this morning. Additional Details: here....
With Commander Kent Rominger at the controls, Endeavour gently docked with the International Space Station this morning as the two spacecraft flew 243 miles over the southern Pacific Ocean, just southeast of New Zealand. Docking occurred at 8:59 a.m. central time. Additional Details: here....
Space Shuttle Endeavour and its seven crewmembers began rendezvous preparations shortly after 3 a.m. today, which should culminate in an 8:32 a.m. docking to the International Space Station, which will be northeast of Hong Kong at an altitude of 240 miles. The shuttle is bringing an advanced robotic arm, experiments and supplies to the ever-growing science outpost. Additional Details: here....
Now docked to the International Space Station, Endeavour and its seven-member crew are preparing for the first of two planned space walks set to begin about 6:20 this morning to install the orbiting outpost's Canadian built robotic arm. Called Canadarm2, the high-tech robotic arm is the most versatile ever flown in space. Additional Details: here....
The 10 astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station and the docked shuttle Endeavour are beginning a day that will see the first opening of hatches linking the two spacecraft. Highlights will include an impressive first step by the station's new Canadarm2 and the berthing to the station of Raffaello, the Italian-built logistics module. Additional Details: here....
Endeavour's two space walkers -- Canadian Chris Hadfield and American Scott Parazynski-- worked as space-age electricians today, completing connections that allowed the new International Space Station robotic arm to operate from a new base on the outside of the Destiny science lab. Additional Details: here....
The astronauts removed a temporary communications antenna from Unity, and connected up power to the Canadarm-2. Susan Helms aboard Destiny then used the arm's LEE A manipulator to remove the SLP Spacelab Pallet from Destiny at 1825 GMT. Meanwhile the EVA crew moved the DCSU switching unit from a sidewall carrier on the port side of Endeavour's cargo bay to the ESP (External Stowage Platform) on Destiny, next to the PFCS (Pump Flow Control System) which was installed on the ESP on the previous mission.
Troubleshooting efforts designed to restore full capability to the International Space Station's three redundant command and control computers continue in Mission Control, even as the 10 astronauts and cosmonauts on board the outpost worked together today to install new experiments in the Destiny laboratory. Additional Details: here....
The Italian Space Agency-provided Raffaello logistics module, loaded with 1,600 pounds of material to be returned to Earth, was tucked securely in Endeavour's payload bay at 3:58 p.m. Central time today as the International Space Station and shuttle flew high over the Pacific Ocean, north of Indonesia. Additional Details: here....
A Canadian "handshake in space" occurred at 4:02 p.m Central time today, as the Canadian-built space station robotic arm - operated by Expedition Two crew member Susan Helms - transferred its launch cradle over to Endeavour's robotic arm, with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield at the controls. The exchange of the pallet from station arm to shuttle arm marked the first ever robotic-to-robotic transfer in space. Additional Details: here....
Weather permitting, Endeavour and its crew of seven will return to the Kennedy Space Center tomorrow morning, concluding a successful mission to install a new-generation robotic arm on the International Space Station, and a journey of more than 4.8 million miles. In preparation for tomorrow's landing opportunities, Commander Kent Rominger, Pilot Jeff Ashby and Flight Engineer John Phillips verified the performance of Endeavour's flight control systems and surfaces and steering jets. Additional Details: here....
A replacement Soyuz spacecraft successfully docked to the International Space Station early Monday, providing the station crew with a new "lifeboat" should an unexpected return to Earth become necessary. The docking occurred at 2:58 a.m. as the station orbited over south-central Russia near the Mongolian border. Additional Details: here....
Endeavour and its crew of seven glided to a landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California today, touching down at 11:11 a.m. central time, concluding a successful mission to install a new-generation robotic arm on the International Space Station, and a journey of more than 4.9 million miles. Additional Details: here....
With the Kennedy Space Center reporting cloud cover, showers and gusty winds and with forecasters calling for more of the same today and tomorrow, flight controllers began focusing on bringing Endeavour home to a landing at Edwards Air Force Base later today. Additional Details: here....