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Subscribe to RSSChris Hadfield is the space station's first Canadian commander. NBCNews.com's Richard Lui reports.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield took the helm of the International Space Station on Wednesday, marking only the second time in the outpost's 12-year history that command has been turned over to someone who is not American or Russian.
"It's a huge honor and a privilege for me, but also for all the people at the Canadian Space Agency and for my entire country," Hadfield, 53, said during a change-of-command ceremony broadcast on NASA TV.
"Thank you very much for giving me the keys to the family car," Hadfield told outgoing station commander Kevin Ford, a NASA astronaut who is due to depart on Thursday along with Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin. "We're going to put some miles on it, but we'll bring it back in good shape."
Ford, Novitskiy and Tarelkin have been orbiting 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth on the station since October.
Command of the station, a project of 15 nations that has been permanently staffed since November 2000, normally rotates between the two primary partners, United States and Russia. But in May 2009, Belgian astronaut Frank De Winne became the first station commander from the European Space Agency.
Hadfield, a veteran of two space shuttle missions, is the station's first Canadian commander. He will be part of a three-man skeleton crew until NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin arrive later this month.
NASA
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield juggles tomatoes in zero gravity aboard the International Space Station after unpacking a SpaceX cargo capsule. Hadfield now serves as the station's first Canadian commander.
Hadfield, astronaut Thomas Marshburn and cosmonaut Roman Romanenko have been aboard the station since Dec. 21. They are due to return to Earth on May 13.
Among Hadfield's first duties as commander is overseeing the packing and release of the visiting SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule. The capsule, making a second resupply run for NASA, is due to depart the station on March 25.
Hadfield has taken to Twitter to share his experiences in orbit, firing off short messages and pictures several times a day. His followers now number more than 512,000.
"My heartfelt congratulations to Commander Hadfield and his family on what is an important milestone for all Canadians," the country's industry minister, Christian Paradis, said in a statement.
More about Chris Hadfield:
- Astronaut and musician perform space duet
- Canadian spaceflier's artistry hits warp speed
- William Shatner calls fellow Canadian in space
Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Check for restrictions at: http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
Leave a Comment:
Canadian is put in charge so someone is left to lock the door from the inside. (should have read the fine print)
You can't make a salad in Afghanistan but there's money to pump whole tomatoes into space?
Saudi's turn is next, and their job is to park back on Earth.
I think the space program is one of man's most noble endeavors in search of knowledge. I can only hope that if we ever go deep space that man's morality has caught up to his technology so we have something to offer the universe.
If you like pics of Earth from up there, check the commander's twitter. He does not disappoint. https://twitter.com/Cmdr_Hadfield
"This thing handles wicked cool, eh?" - Commander Chris Hadfield
One can hope. However more likely than not humanities first contact with intelligent extra terrestrial life will be a violent one.
Full conversation transcribed from NASA TV:
Kevin Ford > Well Chris she is all yours.
Chris Hadfield> Well thank you Kevin it is a great privilege.
Kevin Ford > Your right Chris, don't forget to lock the door behind us.
Chris Hadfield> I will Kevin.
Oleg Novitskiy> You will find the vacuum cleaner under Evgeny's bunk.
Evgeny Tarelkin> God I can't wait to get back to solid ground so I can kick your butt Oleg.
Kevin Ford > OK boys play nice. Here you go Chris (tosses)
Chris Hadfield> Thank you very much for giving me the keys to the family car, we're going to put some miles on it, but we'll bring it back in good shape.
Oleg Novitskiy> What's with the we stuff?
Kevin Ford > Nevermind him Chris just lock it up and take care, remember your in command. Tom, Roman we got room for two more so hop aboard.
transmission fades.............
America's hat.
To cover up America's bald eagle spot? ;)
Crew: What we eating tonight Chris?
Chris: Bradors and Kraft dinners... sounds good, eh?
Of course, everyone knows that this is the SECOND time a Canadian's been in command of a Starship, right? ;)
Technically, it's a space station, like in ST:DS9. Captain Sisko is an American. ;-)
It would have been the 3erd time if the original plan for Voyager's captain ( French Canadian ) would have panned out. Oh, and yes as billy pointed out I guess it is more of a space station Sisko thing.. lol
Aw heck, who cares? Pass the beer it is time for the Canadians to take command! We could do a lot worse.
Yeah by letting Europe take over the station.
This event is so much more welcome than the goofy spectacle going on in Rome right now.
Humanity is better represented by the great and civilized country of Canada taking the helm of a beautiful scientific achievement rather than a secret election to elect some sexually stunted shaman.
I don't look at Rome as a goofy spectacle. God has his place in humanity and likely always will but I do resent having it all over the news and shoved in my face.
Mmm. Yes... Astronauts are totally normal.
For example, an astronaut would never wear Depends so she could drive hundreds of miles without stopping in order to abduct someone.
Likewise, Canada is VERY civilized. Just as a baby seal right about now.
[/sarcasm]
Atheist, your need to relate *every* topic to the Roman Catholic Chuch just proves to me that you are not certain in your opposition to it!
"So this is space, eh? I don't see what all the fuss is aboot..."
Maybe you should step outside for a better view, eh?
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield assumes command of space station
This Canadian Mountie is fending off the attack of the Killer Tomatoes!
Stinkin' Canadians. :-D
Wonderful endeavour. Maybe Hilton will build an orbiting resort soon. :)
so the next frontier has officially become boring, hopefully that big reactor thing that's burried undereground in switzerland or whatever opens up a new time-space dimension that we don't allow anymore canadains in so that we can embark on a truly great adventure and not have to be held back by a politically-correct and unevolved species of people. shame on the n.a.s.a, and the entire russian nation for what has happpened here.
Trollin' trollin' trollin keep those doggies trollin... RAWHIDE!
You ned to find a job or at least a hobby to get out of the house sometime
You do know, the first two letters in that acronym stand for North America, right hater? That doesn't mean only Americans you troll. Unevolved people? The only ones holding you back are other american's just like you, eg; idiots.
Excel-
Where as I share in your sentiments with Little Hater, but NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research. Since February 2006, NASA's mission statement has been to "pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research."
Anything it does with other countries on this planet it does in partnerships. Sorry.
What a hoser!
He was quoted as saying "it's a huge honor" but seeing as he's Canadian I'm sure he meant to say it's a huge "honour".....;)
Way to go Chris!!!..FYI we here in Canada do not say eh, but if it assumes you and you get a bit of pleasure out of thinking that we do than by all means knock yourselves out..
@LitterHater..the correct spelling is Canadians..notice the capital C..just for future reference..now get out there and start picking up that litter..
I never thought id see the day that I was corrected by a canadian but yet here we are. Listen you slaw-spreader in america we have the freedom to spell wordfs however the hell we want on the internet and just because youre communist dictatorship doesn’t let you do the same doesnt mean that us sensbile people over here are wrong it just means that you've been decieved and abused for your whole life. dont worry about my grammar when you havea whole healthcare and benefits program that is currently crumbling a its very foundation and pulling millions of hapless victims into the candaian sink-hole with it and while biolgocial disease and moral decay saps all the humantiy tthats left out of your precious toronto and ontario, how about you go solve that stuff if your so smart though guy and leave the internet usage of proper nouns alone.
As an American (US) I want to apologize to you heaven for Litter's litterbox mentality. With a country this large there's bound to be some morons as you can see. Canada's a wonderful country, a great ally and trading partner and friend. And don't stop saying eh!
as a real american who's not afarid of being real instead of always politically correct or pleasing like a canadaian I'd like to apologize to the rest of americans for having stu make us look like a buynch of mapple-leaf sniffing panzies. With a country as large and diverse as ours is, theres always a small but unfortuantely oud segment of the population that are hipster-douches and stu just happens to be one of those, but remember that he's the exception and not make real americans are actually like that or have such a weak and feeble mind-state. if you do like him however you canada are welcome to take him in exchange for a jar of fresh eskimo-tears that i know you collect daily anyway and have in great supply. please contact either me or the governor of boise who largely handle most of this internationalk issues and we'll try and work this out america-style.
Both my daughter and girlfriend are Canadian and they do indeed say eh quite a bit. In fact it is vary common in this area.
I realize that just like in the US, in Canada people talk different in different areas, but the eh dose indeed come out quite a bit in the east.
LittleHater - last week you claimed you were about to become "half-canadian" yourself. What happened? They turn you around at the border?
(lighthearted response) You can thank Bob and Doug McKenzie for that in the movie Strange Brew.
no mifo they didn't deny me I basically denied them after realizing that the canadian girl who I thought was really cool actually was a smile-pedalling con-artist who just wanted to try to steal my heart so that she could crush it with her professional personal-trainer boyfriend so like all canadiands she turned out to be a completely floosey which is why now canada is offfically traitors of the human race and we shoudln't let them into our public restrooms even nevermind our space stations.
I doubt Litter Hater was being litter.al
Finally. I wonder how much investment contribution did the Canadians put into the space station to get to a Canadian to become captain...?
It's like if americans can yell at Washington for wasting tax dollars, Should americans also yell at government funded projects overseer if they wasting USA tax dollars?
Space does not recognize race, gender, and/or nationalilties.
actually yes it does you moron, if two dudes have sex in space to try and have a kid the space will recognize that those varaibles cannot make a kid and reject their offering, likewise if two canadians try to travel out of the galaxy space will say no and vaporize their litttle pleasure-rover.
LitterMaker (a more suitable name) Hey, mongrel, here's another Canadian correcting your grammar AND spelling..next time use proper nouns, caps, commas and spell check...that is if you can read.
hey canadian4, just like I told your little compatriot I don’t give a f what you narrow-minded Communists think about internet grammar-protocol because the rest of the civilzied world doesn’t operate that way and waste their time with details like proper letter-order like you morons do, how long'd it take you to write up that momumenttal post, 6 minutes? maybe if actaully thought about what you could be doing instead during that extra 5 minutes taht youre taking like filling out citizenship forms to actual real countires that you could be proud to be a part of then people wouldnt think so negativelly of you. i live in the only mainland U.S. city where you can look south and see canada so i am surrounded by your kinds' ignorance every day and its time that you either shape up or stop complaining you deformed fairy-lions.
Coo coo coo coo .... So, what aboot having a hoser in charge, eh? Hope he doesn't park the station in stationary orbit above the Great White North, eh? Beauty, eh?
SLIGHTLY OFF TOPIC: It is nice to see/read this news article but I am more disturbed about why MSNBC doesn't report the scientific discoveries these astronauts/cosmonauts are making from all the expirements they are performing up there. I have not seen any big ticket items regarding the ISS except for the resupply missions of Dragon or Progress, who's in charge now, etc., but NOTHING about the discoveries...
Is that deliberate or is everything up on the ISS THAT boring? I am hoping the answer to that is a resounding NO, but so far I am not impressed with the amount of regular reporting coming from the likes of MSNBC or NASA for that matter regarding what experiments are ongoing...
Okay, bitchfest is over...YAY Canada!
:-)