Earlier this week, Chris Hadfield joined CBC News live to go through the process of the re-entry and splashdown of SpaceX capsule Dragon. The renowned astronaut and veteran of multiple space flights took the audience through just how the capsule’s landing system would work, concerns for both the crew on board and control team on Earth, and what his own experiences were like.
After a safe water landing by the capsule, the first since 1975, the conversation turned to what Hadfield thought was next for space exploration:
“The Moon is absolutely next. I work with several companies and with a Canadian tech incubator called The Creative Destruction Lab; We are looking to take advantage of all the things we’ve invented to now not just visit the Moon, but to actually make it part of the Earth-Moon system. Just like Antarctica or any other place that used to be unobtainable. That’s where we are in history, and flights like this one today, this type of technology, that’s what makes it possible. It what’s helping us through COVID, but it’s also what allows all the fascinating things of the future coming down the pike. What we just saw today, that’s pretty good evidence.”
Referred to as “the most famous astronaut since Neil Armstrong,” Colonel Chris Hadfield is a worldwide sensation whose video of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” — seen by over 75 million people — was called “possibly the most poignant version of the song ever created”, by Bowie himself. Acclaimed for making outer space accessible to millions, and for infusing a sense of wonder into our collective consciousness not felt since humanity first walked on the Moon, Hadfield continues to bring the marvels of science and space travel to everyone he encounters.