I first heard of Chris Hadfield (a real space commander currently in the international space station) in his witty response to William Shatner (a fake space commander) on Twitter. As I was looking for an article about this to link to I learned that the “event” continued to include more members of the original Star Trek cast and then some … funny stuff.
A few weeks later I came to know of Chris’ photography (check out his Twitter profile) – magical perspectives of where we are. There are too many for me to choose one to show you here so go and see for yourself.
A few days ago I learned that he can also play guitar and sing:
Today he partook in a live video conference. One of the questions he was asked was how they have Internet access in space. It was a live event broadcast freely for anyone to access over the “planetary Internet”, where a live communication feed was being utilized to communicate with an astraunaut speeding through space at 28,000kmh … and there was only a few seconds delay. Not only that but I got to the live event in its last few minutes, so I missed Chris’ live appearance … but immediately after the live event ended it became available to replay … still free and open to all.
As I was listening to his answer I experienced a moment of awe at what technology can do for us. There is so much technology in my life that has become obvious (the Internet itself a good example) and though I don’t take it for granted I don’t celebrate it. If technology gets any conscious attention from me it usually comes in a critical tone … as I witness so much misuse and abuse and excess of technology. So experiencing the wonder of technology was like a breath of fresh air … ironically a breath of fresh air that came from where there is no air at all (Chris’ appearance starts at ~57 minutes and goes on for about 20 minutes):
My favorite insight:
“You can cry in space, but the tears don’t fall”