Canadian Space Agency celebrates Chris Hadfield’s launchiverary

One year ago today, on December 19th, 2012, Chris Hadfield launched into orbit as part of Expedition 34/35 on board the International Space Station, and the Canadian Space Agency released a short video to commemorate his first 'launchiversary'.

For Hadfield, who retired upon his return to Earth in May, this was his third trip into space. Only he can say if it was truly his greatest (although he'd have to make a pretty convincing argument to convince us it wasn't), but for us down here on Earth, it was definitely his most memorable.

He shared the incredible view out his windows with us daily, posting numerous pictures to his Twitter account to show off the beauty of the planet. The videos he recorded gave us a glimpse into what it's like to live in space, and how the zero-g environment changes nearly every aspect of daily living. Thanks to him, we all know how even the simplest parts of life, like eating, bathing and sleeping are so different in space. We also know how the most innocent actions, like eating a sandwich or cutting our fingernails, can become hazardous to both human and machine on the station. We've known since 1979 that in space noone can hear you scream (ha ha), but he showed us how being in space makes crying difficult too.

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Most of all, by sharing his experiences with us, he briefly lifted us out of our day-to-day, rooted-to-the ground lives, to show us a different perspective on our place in the universe, and this inspired a fresh enthusiasm for human space exploration.

So, thanks Mr. Hadfield, and Happy Launchiversary!

(Photo courtesy: NASA/CSA)

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