Chris
Hadfield shows his sporting colours from the International Space Station on Jan. 6, 2013. (Chris Hadfield, NASA via
Twitter/Canadian Press)
Chris
Hadfield isn't the first or only tweeting astronaut, but he has, in layman's
terms, tweeted up a storm. When he left Earth on Dec. 19, he had 20,000 Twitter followers,
a number that has grown to more than 824,000 today. Followers come from around
the world, and have been particularly intrigued by his much-praised photos of
places on the globe.
Eighty-one
videos of his ISS experiences have proved an unexpected hit for the Canadian
Space Agency, generating 22 million views. Website traffic at the CSA is up 70
per cent so far this year over the same period in 2012.
Julie Simard,
the CSA's senior communication adviser, says the agency always knew Hadfield
would attract a lot of attention.
"We just
didn’t know that it would be that much and that it would be international,
because ususally it's mostly Canadians that follow us and that are interested
in what the CSA is doing."
'Biggest surprise'
The unexpected
surge in interest prompted changes at the CSA, including adding more people to
the team to handle media requests, which were flooding in from around the
world.
"Our
biggest surprise was the international response that we got with everything we
did," says Simard, noting calls places such as New Zealand, Australia and Brazil.
For observers,
the interest Hadfield has generated is remarkable.
"He has
been a phenomenon, and I mean that in the most positive sense," says Marc
Garneau, Canada's first astronaut who later led the CSA
and is now a Liberal MP.
"Not only
was he setting a new precedent for Canada in becoming the first ever Canadian
commander of the International Space Station … but in addition to that of
course he has been a remarkably effective communicator to the ground."
Garneau says
Hadfield "brought the space station and to some extent the space
experience to a large number of people by sharing not only his pictures on
Twitter and his comments, but also by sharing his emotions and that's something
that people really want to hear about."
Hadfield's
ability to communicate his experiences, observers say, is significant,
particularly because Canadians don't know much about Canada's role in space exploration or how
important space is in their lives.
"Space is
something that has a lot of significance for Canada in particular," says John Moores,
an assistant professor of space engineering at York Univesity.
Space, he says,
is vital for the role it plays in everything from communication via satellite
in a country with such a large land mass to weather forecasting and monitoring
resources, or plotting what happens in the Arctic as conditions change over time.
"We often
forget the extent to which space comes into our daily lives."
At the same
time, many in the Canadian space community consider the public lacks awareness
of what Canada has done in space since its first
satellite was launched in 1962.
"More
people in Canada know about NASA than they do about the
Canadian Space Agency and the Canadian space program," says Gordon
Osinski, deputy director of the Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration at
Western University in London, Ont.
"One of
things I don't think has been done well in the past is going out there and
promoting what Canadians and Canadian researchers are doing in space."
Chris
Hadfield shows how Canada's new polymer $5 bank note
behaves in space on April 30, 2013. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian
Press)
Hadfield has, Osinski suggests, singlehandedly raised the
profile of the Canadian space program, and he hopes the momentum the astronaut
has established will continue.
Still, questions
remain about the long-term impact Hadfield can have.
"That's the
unfortunate thing," says Marc Fricker, vice-president of the Canadian
Space Society.
"As much as
he's captured the attention of Canada and the media for this, unfortunately I
don't think that there is anywhere else for this to go. There's nothing else
out there."
"Unfortunately
the space agency is dwindling. Its budgets are being cut. Its people are
leaving as a mass exodus in some instances," says Fricker.
Mass exodus
Dad's on the line
Evan Hadfield was part-way through a video link interview from Germany when his cellphone rang.
"I'm sorry, I have to take this," he told me, putting
the interview on hold before answering.
"Hey Dad, what's up?"
International Space Station commander Chris Hadfield said
something in response.
"Good," said Evan. "I'm currently in the middle
of an interview. Can this wait?"
Apparently it could, at least for a little while.
"OK," Evan told his father, "call me back in 10
minutes, please.
"OK, bye."
"Sorry," Evan said, as we picked up where we left off.
A review
commissioned by the federal government found late last year that Canada's space industry has been lacking
direction and falling behind other countries for the past decade or so.
The federal
government has said it is reviewing the recommendations by former federal
cabinet minister David Emerson.
For its part,
the CSA says it wants to build upon the interest and attention Hadfield has
attracted.
"We do have
other projects going on at the Canadian Space Agency and we've actually started
thinking about how to transition from that success and trying to bring the same
kind of strategy into our other projects," says Simard.
"Now that
we see that the videos are really successful, we'll not drop that and we will
try to continue to do videos but with other topics. It’s not going to be Chris
Hadfield in space, but it's going to be other projects that the CSA is working
on right now."
For the
Hadfields — father and son — their popularity has been "amazing," and
"stunning," Evan says.
The astronaut
has no intention of ending his online connection once he's home, Evan says.
Instead, he hopes to build upon it.
'So much greater'
"A lot of
people think that when he comes back he'll stop, but I don't really understand
why because it's not an end to something," Evan says.
Chris
Hadfield, left, and his son Evan pose at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Dec. 18, 2012, the day before the
Canadian astronaut left for the International Space Station. (Hadfield family/Canadian
Press)
"It's going to be so much greater when he comes home
and people can interact with him face to face now that they know what he's
achieved and what it's possible to achieve."
Evan Hadfield
looks to the future, and sees a need for Canada to "start deciding that we are
going to continue being a good space nation.
"We need to
stop resting on our laurels, and that includes Dad …
"There is a
very strong desire to live in hindsight, to say we went to the moon as the
United States [did], therefore we’ve succeeded in space, but it's exploration
and exploration is not something you do one time and then stop.
"It's a
continuous process and we need to support that because it's directly benefiting
us here on Earth."
Chris
Hadfield's Space Kitchen
===============+++++++++++++===============
Now for some
vampire news
A
self help guide by Amy Mah (Vampire) for teenage vampire girls, the guide is
fully illustrated by manga Artist Heby and is written in an easy to follow A -
Z format explaining everything a teenage vampire girl would need to know about
living life as a modern Vampire. What is fashionable to wear when eating out?
Fang maintenance & how to keep your claws sharp. Should you let a boy bite
you on the first date? Easy to understand clear advice is given to every day
problems Example: When you get an urge to bite: We all get those normal urges
to bite things, and I must point out it is very normal, Claws are all well and
good in a fight but a bite gives the extra advantage of getting a refreshing
drink at the same time. Lots of girls worry about showing their Fangs in public
believing that to show your fangs is rude, but don't be shy they can be a girls
greatest asset (ok second greatest asset) if a boy is being rude to you, don't
just snarl at him, just bite him! You are a vampire why do you think you have
sharp teeth if not for sinking them into a boy that is being rude to you.
Today's
world is difficult for everyone, especially teenagers. They face the stresses
of school, deciding whom to date, and the biggie of sex, just to name a few.
Imagine all of those things ten times worse, and you might get an idea of what
it's like being a living, breathing teenage vampire. At last, the world can
read about the life of a girl with good teeth, her problems with strong
sunlight that gave her spots, and the sunblock that made her hair go yucky and
produced more spots. Yes, sunlight was dangerous, as she could be the first
teenager in history to die from terminal acne! In her everyday life, older
vampires expected her to walk about at night in the traditional female uniform,
a see-through, 18th-century nightdress, without undies! Well, this female
vampire knew why the cold winds blowing along the corridors were called,
"male winds," so she wore her see-through nightdress over jeans and a
very thick jumper. To be sure that people would still know she was a vampire,
the jumper had a very large, pink bat on it. And as to guys, well, it was
normal for a girl to dream about guys; she just wished the dreams could have
involved chocolates and holding hands, not leaping out at someone, ripping off
his shirt, and demanding to know what blood type he was (at least not on the
first date).
Click here to see more:
