Chris Hadfield I REMEMBER...

Chris Hadfield, 64, is a Canadian astronaut who’s a veteran of three spaceflights and served as Commander of the International Space Station He’s also been a combat fighter pilot and a test pilot, played a version of Bowie’s “Space Oddity” in space and is an author who has written books like An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth, The Apollo Murders and his new second novel, The Defector 

AS A NINE-YEAR-OLD BOY I WAS GROWING UP ON A FARM AND DREAMING OF GOING TO SPACE.

I watched shuttle launches, as well as Star Trek and 2001: A Space Odyssey, and I imagined going to space when I looked up at all the stars in the night sky. I wish I could tell that child that his dreams would come true and that he would grow up to pilot and command spaceships.

I FLEW F-18 COMBAT FIGHTERS IN THE COLD WAR AND I WAS A TEST PILOT with the US Air Force and US Navy, even though I’m Canadian. I’ve flown about 100 different types of aeroplanes, including many jet fighters and a few propeller fighters. I’ve flown a Spitfire, F-86 Sabre, F-18, F-16 and F-4—many different, high performance aeroplanes. In my new novel The Defector, the opening scene is an F-4 in combat. Being able to draw on my experience, as an F-18 pilot and then as a test pilot, really gave me a depth and platform to talk about it knowledgably and from the inside. Hopefully, I can really let people know what it feels like when you’re in combat or when you’re manoeuvring a plane that’s right at the edge.

I RAN A PROGRAMME THAT MADE F-18S A SAFER AND MORE CAPABLE AEROPLANE.