In this book, Chris Hadfield described his experience of life as an astronaut. There are detailed descriptions of the long and elaborate application process to be an astronaut, the extensive general training and special mission-oriented training. He had flown in space three times, on the Shuttle, on the Russian Soyuz, as well as 144 days on the International Space Station, during which he was commander a good portion of the time. His writing style was easy to read, informative and detailed. Readers of the book owe him a great debt for the first-hand knowledge about every aspect of the space program, particularly the effect of zero gravity on the human body and daily activities. In particular, he pointed out that, “If the only thing you really enjoyed was whipping around earth in a spaceship, you’d hate being an astronaut, as the ratio of prep time to time on orbit is many months to a single day in space”. Anyone dreaming to being an astronaut should also take note of Hadfield’s description of the miserable physical and mental states he was in when he returned to earth after almost 5 months in the state of weightlessness, and how long it took him to be back to be normal physically and mentally.
Throughout the book, the author highlighted common sense guides to life on earth which are particularly important to life in space. Some examples:
1. Don’t assume you know everything but try to be ready for anything
2. It is a plus if you view criticism as potentially helpful advice rather than as a personal attack.
3. Promote colleagues’ interests. In a crisis, they may be the only people who can help you.
4. Think about what to do if things go wrong as well as right, that is the power of negative thinking.
There were several dramatic episodes. These include: the prolonged uncertainly, after he was designated commander of the international space station, whether Hadfield would pass the medical scrutiny to fly again; the emergency spacewalk to fix the ammonia leak; and the discovery of a snake in the cockpit during space flight and how the crew handled the situation..
In conclusion, this is a most informative book about the space program and space flight, told by a perceptive astronaut who had experienced every aspect of it. As a token of appreciation to the author, I added one more view to the 53 million views of his “Space Oddity” video.
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