An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for AnythingTravel to space and back with astronaut Chris Hadfield's "enthralling" bestseller as your eye-opening guide (Slate). Colonel Chris Hadfield has spent decades training as an astronaut and has logged nearly 4000 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, and been temporarily blinded while clinging to the exterior of an orbiting spacecraft. The secret to Col. Hadfield's success-and survival-is an unconventional philosophy he learned at NASA: prepare for the worst- and enjoy every moment of it. In An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, Col. 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 counterintuitive 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 Col. Hadfield. But his vivid and refreshing insights will teach you how to think like an astronaut, and will change, completely, the way you view life on Earth — especially your own. "Hadfield proves himself to be not only a fierce explorer of the universe, but also a deeply thoughtful explorer of the human condition." —Maria Popova, Brain Pickings |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 50
Page
... started when I was 9 years old and my family was spending the summer at our cottage on Stag Island in Ontario. My dad, an airline pilot, was mostly away, flying, but my mom was there, reading in the cool shade of a tall oak whenever she ...
... started when I was 9 years old and my family was spending the summer at our cottage on Stag Island in Ontario. My dad, an airline pilot, was mostly away, flying, but my mom was there, reading in the cool shade of a tall oak whenever she ...
Page
... started immediately. Would an astronaut eat his vegetables or have potato chips instead? Sleep in late or get up early to read a book? I didn't announce to my parents or my brothers and sisters that I wanted to be an astronaut. That ...
... started immediately. Would an astronaut eat his vegetables or have potato chips instead? Sleep in late or get up early to read a book? I didn't announce to my parents or my brothers and sisters that I wanted to be an astronaut. That ...
Page
... started yelling at myself. Then I asked my father to help me weld the bar back together again and headed out to the fields a third time, quite a bit more cautiously. Growing up on a farm was great for instilling patience, which was ...
... started yelling at myself. Then I asked my father to help me weld the bar back together again and headed out to the fields a third time, quite a bit more cautiously. Growing up on a farm was great for instilling patience, which was ...
Page
... started learning to fly powered planes. I loved the sensation, the speed, the challenge of trying to execute maneuvers with some degree of elegance. I wanted to be a better pilot not only because it fit in with the just-in-case ...
... started learning to fly powered planes. I loved the sensation, the speed, the challenge of trying to execute maneuvers with some degree of elegance. I wanted to be a better pilot not only because it fit in with the just-in-case ...
Page
... with losing the French slot in the spring. A few months later, I was selected to go to the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School (TPS) at Edwards Air Force Base, and our year there changed everything. It started out perfectly: we headed to ...
... with losing the French slot in the spring. A few months later, I was selected to go to the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School (TPS) at Edwards Air Force Base, and our year there changed everything. It started out perfectly: we headed to ...
Contents
Have an Attitude | |
The Power of Negative Thinking | |
Sweat the Small Stuff | |
The Last People in the World | |
Whats the Next Thing That Could Kill | |
Tranquility Base Kazakhstan | |
Aim to Be a Zero | |
Life off Earth | |
practicalities and logistics of even more ambitious expeditions | |
Square Astronaut Round Hole | |
COMING DOWN TO EARTH | |
Photos | |
Acknowledgments | |
Reading Group Guide | |
Other editions - View all
An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About ... Chris Hadfield No preview available - 2015 |
Common terms and phrases
actually airlock astronaut Baikonur Canadarm2 Canadian capcom capsule Chris Cassidy Chris Hadfield commander cosmonauts couldn’t crew crewmates debrief didn’t docking Earth engines Evan everything experience feel felt fighter figure floating going to space gravity ground guitar happen hatch Helene helmet Houston inside International Space Station kids knew landing launch leak look minutes Mission Control module months move NASA NASA’s never orbit Pavel person planet pressure problem pull quarantine re-entry ready robotic rocket ship Roman Roscosmos Russian sense Shuttle simulator sleep sleep station Sokhol someone Soyuz space flight Space Oddity space program spaceship spacesuits spacewalk SpaceX Star City started stuff sure test pilot there’s things took turn undock vehicle wanted wasn’t we’d weightlessness what’s who’d who’s window you’re Yuri zero