An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

Chris Hadfield

Oct 2013 · Pan Macmillan

About this eBook

Back on the earth after three spaceflights, Chris Hadfield's captivating memoir An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth reveals extraordinary stories from his life as an astronaut, and shows how to make the impossible a reality. This edition contains a new afterword.

Colonel Chris Hadfield has spent decades training as an astronaut and has logged nearly 4,000 hours in space. During this time he has broken into a Space Station with a Swiss army knife, disposed of a live snake while piloting a plane, been temporarily blinded while clinging to the exterior of an orbiting spacecraft, and become a YouTube sensation with his performance of David Bowie's 'Space Oddity' in space. The secret to Chris Hadfield's success – and survival – is an unconventional philosophy he learned at NASA: prepare for the worst – and enjoy every moment of it.

In his book, An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, Chris Hadfield takes readers deep into his years of training and space exploration to show how to make the impossible possible. Through eye-opening, entertaining stories filled with the adrenaline of launch, the mesmerizing wonder of spacewalks and the measured, calm responses mandated by crises, he explains how conventional wisdom can get in the way of achievement – and happiness. His own extraordinary education in space has taught him some counter-intuitive lessons: don't visualize success, do care what others think, and always sweat the small stuff.

You might never be able to build a robot, pilot a spacecraft, make a music video or perform basic surgery in zero gravity like Colonel Hadfield. But his vivid and refreshing insights in this book will teach you how to think like an astronaut, and will change, completely, the way you view life on Earth – especially your own.

Ratings and reviews

I had seen this guy in an interview promoting his book on Irish tv, sounded good, and at the outset the book seemed to show some promise, though as time went on you realised that this guy was one of those, I have been there, achieved that types, and generally came out top of everythinv he ever done, obviously ending up being a captain on a shuttle and ISS mission, and the fact that he , made a pop video up there, kind of making the normal geek boring astronaut type seem like one of us. In the book, he was showing how he was obsessed with perfection, only really liked people who either were the same as him or didn't mind working with him. I would probablyclobber this guy if I had to work with him. The standard of the writing was not great, it seemed very self indulgent, showing very little interest in things of an exterior nature, which can be very important to readers such as I. Poorly written, by a self centred controlling obsessed man, didn't enjoy.

Life and lessons of Commander Chris Hadfield. Canadian Astronaut, amongst other titles. A good all round read by a modest and determined man. Interesting to read about life through the eyes of an Astronaut and his journey leading into outer space. Read the book and had to watch the video. Good to see the face and a glimpse inside the ISS. The tunes weren't bad either! Nearly 23m hits so far.

A great read. It inspires, enthralls and entertains from start to finish. Worth reading for the superb description of the feelings associated with a rocket launch! Nicely written. Well worth £15 so snap it up now!

About the author

Chris Hadfield is one of the most seasoned and accomplished astronauts in the world. The top graduate of the U.S. Air Force test pilot school in 1988 and U.S. Navy test pilot of the year in 1991, Colonel Hadfield was selected to be an astronaut in 1992. He was CAPCOM for twenty-five shuttle launches and served as Director of NASA Operations in Star City, Russia from 2001-2003, Chief of Robotics at the Johnson Space Center in Houston from 2003-2006, and Chief of International Space Station Operations from 2006-2008.

Hadfield served as Commander of the International Space Station where, while conducting a record-setting number of scientific experiments and overseeing an emergency spacewalk, he gained worldwide acclaim for his breathtaking photographs and educational videos about life in space. His music video, a zero gravity version of David Bowie's 'Space Oddity' received over 10 million views in its first three days online.

Chris Hadfield's book, An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, sees his lessons learnt in space applied to life on Earth. He is also the author of You Are Here, a book of breathtaking photos taken from space, and the thriller The Apollo Murders. His TED talk has been viewed over four million times and he judged the BBC TV series Astronauts: Do You Have What It Takes?