{"id":19246,"date":"2016-09-15T01:28:51","date_gmt":"2016-09-14T17:28:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/rock-star-astronaut-chris-hadfield-helps-kids-face-fears-with-darkest-dark-book\/"},"modified":"2016-09-15T01:28:51","modified_gmt":"2016-09-14T17:28:51","slug":"rock-star-astronaut-chris-hadfield-helps-kids-face-fears-with-darkest-dark-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/rock-star-astronaut-chris-hadfield-helps-kids-face-fears-with-darkest-dark-book\/","title":{"rendered":"Rock-star astronaut Chris Hadfield helps kids face fears with \u2018Darkest Dark\u2019 book"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_274921\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-274921\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-274921\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/160916-hadfield-space-oddity-630x407.jpg\" alt=\"Chris Hadfield with guitar\" width=\"630\" height=\"407\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/160916-hadfield-space-oddity-630x407.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/160916-hadfield-space-oddity-768x496.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/160916-hadfield-space-oddity.jpg 1083w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-274921\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield is arguably best-known for his orbital rendition of David Bowie\u2019s \u201cSpace Oddity.\u201d Bowie gave his approval for Hadfield\u2019s performance. (Credit: CSA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield says he wanted to be an astronaut ever since&nbsp;he was a kid&nbsp;\u2013 but he had to get over one big problem: Outer space is dark. \u201cLike really, really dark,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was afraid of the dark, so it made me feel sort of daunted,\u201d Hadfield recalled Tuesday night during a talk at Town Hall Seattle.<\/p>\n<p>Recognizing and overcoming that kind of fear is the focus of Hadfield\u2019s totally biographical storybook for kids, titled \u201cThe Darkest Dark.\u201d During Tuesday\u2019s first official book-tour stop, Hadfield wowed the crowd with a reading, plus an airing of a song that ties in with the book. Then he took questions.<\/p>\n<p>One of the high points came when a young boy clad in a spacesuit costume came up on stage to ask a question: How high can you jump in space? Hadfield and the boy took turns jumping, and figuring out how high the jump would have been in Mars\u2019 one-third gravity, or the moon\u2019s one-sixth gravity.<\/p>\n<p>Then Hadfield explained that a jump off the side of a spaceship in zero gravity might never end. \u201cYou can jump forever,\u201d he told the boy. Hadfield waited several beats to let that sink in, and then added: \u201cSo you want to be careful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That got a laugh from the kids as well as the grown-ups who&nbsp;filled Town Hall\u2019s auditorium.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=b0yle&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=776103132405243904&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekwire.com%2F2016%2Fchris-hadfield-fear-darkest-dark-book%2F&amp;sessionId=be1a4699282ef213a5d3f7bdbcf18f4c859ee03b&amp;siteScreenName=geekwire&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"776103132405243904\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782804143559441157=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">thank you for your message of how to deal w fear to reach Dreams pic.twitter.com\/BVBs6mtdn7<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Leo (@leo1_buster) September 14, 2016<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=b0yle&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-1&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=775888912858230784&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekwire.com%2F2016%2Fchris-hadfield-fear-darkest-dark-book%2F&amp;sessionId=be1a4699282ef213a5d3f7bdbcf18f4c859ee03b&amp;siteScreenName=geekwire&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"775888912858230784\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782804143559441157=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Two astronauts having a serious brainstorming meeting #TheDarkestDark @Cmdr_Hadfield launch event @townhallseattle pic.twitter.com\/qILzzvQC9Z<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jessica Shoffel (@JessicaShoffel) September 14, 2016<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Hadfield\u2019s book is aimed helping youngsters put their own fears in perspective. \u201cSometimes we let fear stop us from [experiencing] a whole swath of life that\u2019s available,\u201d Hadfield explained.<\/p>\n<p>The realization that there was cosmic wonder in the \u201cdarkest dark\u201d of space gave the young Hadfield&nbsp;an incentive to overcome his own fears in a dark bedroom.<\/p>\n<p>Eventually, Hadfield earned an engineering degree, served as&nbsp;a military test pilot and became&nbsp;an astronaut.&nbsp;In 2001, Hadfield became the first Canadian to go on a spacewalk. That encounter with the darkest dark turned out to be \u201cthe most magical moment\u201d of his astronaut experience, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Today Hadfield is no stranger to the dark, and no stranger to the limelight. He\u2019s been on three space missions, in 1995, 2001 and 2012-2013. During his last tour of duty, which included a turn as the International Space Station\u2019s commander, Hadfield recorded a series of space videos that went viral.<\/p>\n<p>The biggest hit was his orbital rendition of David Bowie\u2019s \u201cSpace Oddity,\u201d which Hadfield revised to provide a happy ending. The music video&nbsp;been played on YouTube alone more than 32 million times since it went up three years ago.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Space Oddity\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KaOC9danxNo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Hadfield, an accomplished guitarist and singer, said the song started out as merely a personal project, but his son persuaded him to do the full video treatment&nbsp;\u2013 which required some pretty complicated orbital production, plus Bowie\u2019s go-ahead.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBowie said it was the most poignant version of the song ever done. \u2026 It put a great big smile on his face in the last years of his life,\u201d Hadfield said. \u201cTo me, that was the best part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Months after returning to Earth, Hadfield announced his retirement from the Canadian Space Agency. Today he has his hands full with media&nbsp;projects and educational tours.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_275031\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-275031\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-275031\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/160914-darkest-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"The Darkest Dark\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/160914-darkest-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/160914-darkest-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/160914-darkest-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/160914-darkest.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-275031\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u201cThe Darkest Dark\u201d is published by Little, Brown and Company, with illustrations by the Fan Brothers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In addition to \u201cThe Darkest Dark,\u201d he\u2019s written a book for all ages called&nbsp;\u201cAn Astronaut\u2019s Guide to Life on Earth.\u201d His pictures from space are featured in a coffee-table book,&nbsp;\u201cYou Are Here.\u201d He also has a music album titled&nbsp;\u201cSpace Sessions: Songs From a Tin Can.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And&nbsp;there\u2019s more to come: Hadfield has just returned from an&nbsp;icebreaker expedition&nbsp;through the High Arctic with a team of filmmakers and artists. The experiences that were documented during the expedition will be turned into a science-based variety show&nbsp;to be&nbsp;presented on stage and online.<\/p>\n<p>It sounds like a daunting schedule, but maybe nothing seems all that daunting after you venture into the darkest dark. So what\u2019s Hadfield\u2019s secret? He laid out four key qualifications for becoming an astronaut, which arguably could apply to achieving any life goal:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cYou need an absolute burning desire \u2026 that this is important to you.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cYou need to take care of your body, because you have to fit into your spacesuit.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cIf you\u2019re going to hire an astronaut, you want someone who has proven they can learn really complicated things.\u201d Having an advanced degree helps, Hadfield said.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cWe want people who have a proven ability to make good decisions.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Hadfield said that last point is why the people in charge of astronaut selection process&nbsp;tend to favor physicians and other professionals who have faced life-or-death decisions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe hire test pilots,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause the test pilots who made bad decisions are all dead.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield is arguably best-known for his orbital rendition of David Bowie\u2019s \u201cSpace Oddity.\u201d Bowie gave his approval for Hadfield\u2019s performance. (Credit: CSA) Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield says he wanted to be an astronaut ever since&nbsp;he was a kid&nbsp;\u2013 but he had to get over one big problem: Outer space is dark. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4418,5510,5511],"class_list":["post-19246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-books","tag-childrens-book","tag-chris-hadfield"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19246"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19246\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}