Reddit reacts to Chris Hadfield’s pass through customs upon return to Earth

So, among the questions Chris Hadfield answered during his Reddit AMA last week, one in particular sparked quite the reaction, as he related a surprising, but maybe not so shocking aspect of returning to Earth.

The fun started when Reddit user IAMAfortunecookieAMA asked the former astronaut: "Did you have to pass through Customs or some other international checkpoint when you landed in Kazakhstan?"

"Yes, we did," was Hadfield's reply. "NASA kept our passports and visas, and brought them to us at landing, so we had them at the Karaganda airport to leave Kazakhstan. A funny but necessary detail of returning to Earth."

At first glance, that is pretty funny, and Reddit agreed, as the jokes began to fly about as fast as the many vehicles the retired Canadian Air Force colonel has flown and commanded over the years ...

BloodAndGutsMurphy wrote:

Hydra_Bear followed up:

ryansouth21 asked:

ShallowBasketcase wondered about the follow-up questions of the interview:

While Dtrain16 posted one of the possible outcome (and probably the most difficult to recover from):

However, although it's technically true that the astronauts went through customs, and it's pretty funny to think about going through the whole process when you're filling in your 'point of departure' with 'Space', the astronauts didn't actually pass through customs specifically to return to Earth.

Once the three returning 'spacelings' were safely down and out of the Soyuz capsule, they were first checked out in a nearby medical tent. Then, while cosmonaut Roman Romanenko went with the Roscosmos staff, Hadfield and NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn were flown to nearby Karaganda airport by helicopter. There, they passed through customs to leave Kazakhstan and return to the United States, just as anyone flying out of Karaganda would have gone through customs to fly to the United States.

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Still, while the idea is just a joke now, it likely won't remain so for much longer. Commercial spaceflight companies like SpaceX, Orbital Sciences, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin (just to name some of the more high-profile ones) are making big strides these days. Other companies have plans for space hotels and even moon bases. At this pace, it won't be too long before we will need to pass through 'space customs'.

Personally, I can't wait for the day when I can have space destinations stamped in my passport.

(Photo courtesy: The Canadian Press)

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