"I've never been "had" for brunch before" Chris Hadfield quipped, as he stepped up to the lecturn. He was the closing act in the Ben McNally books and Globe and Mail Authors' Brunch held at the King Edward Hotel, December 8, 2013.
Far from being just a Hadfield love fest (although a sizeable number of people were there to see the Colonel), there were talks by three other authors before Canada's favorite astronaut was introduced to talk about his tome.
First up was Jason Tetro, who spoke about
"The Germ Code" . Great speaker - should've bought his book too - I can still rectify that. Sounded really interesting about how we basically have to learn to get along with germs. (note to self - buy some
Lactobacillus acidophilus) He also spoke to
Quirks and Quarks in an interview that preceded this event.
Next up was Lynn Coady, talking in a roundabout way about her
Giller prize winning book of short stories. She didn't seem particularly prepared is about all I can say.
As opposed to the charming Rachel Joyce, who was there to promote
"Perfect". The admittedly jet lagged writer was unabashed at referring to notes, and said we were the largest room of people she'd spoken to, and rather than being withdrawn, was a delightful teller of stories.
Which bought us to the passionate, erudite
Chris Hadfield.
In Mike Mullane
1 fashion, Col.
2 Hadfield opened his talk to a roomful of Torontonians by launching (he he - see what I did there? ) into the topic of enemas. Of course. Because what does one want hear an astronaut author talk about, especially just after a lovely King Eddie brekky of fruit and poached eggs? Poop. Or rather how one, on the morning of one of the most momentous events of ones life, start said morning by evacuating as much poop as possible from ones body, so that you don't need to (hopefully) do it for another couple of days. And with a hose up ones bum, lying on the floor shivering (one would suppose) on the the cold tiled floor of a Kazakhstan bathroom. Killing the time, talking to his wife Helene on the phone ("everyone should marry an Helene") while unbeknownst to him, crewmate
Tom Marshburn could hear everything that they were saying. Awkward.... ;) Perhaps no more awkward than the last terrestrial kiss he received - from the mustached Russian technician who kissed him on the forehead at the request of Helene as he was being strapped in for launch.
He then described the physical sensations of the experience of launch in his Soyuz capsule. The risk of 7 million pounds of thrust under you. The uncomfortable chair. Max G and the forces on his body, and at almost 9 minutes, the engines exhaust their fuel, and being suddenly weightless. What being such a social networking star was like, and how taking photos of the homes of many was a very connecting experience. Seeing Earth from the cupola. And now, after all that, what's it's been like meeting folks on the book tour and returning to life in Canada
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeDKF__Vuu8 .
After the talk, standing in the long line to get
"An Astronaut's Guide to Life" signed, I chatted to Ian and Sue Wheelband. I had plans for what I'd say when I finally got to the top of the line. I was going to perhaps find out what happened to the RASC sticker shown in this image (getting that to space is a whole other story
4). I was going to record our conversation, so I could just enjoy the moment and not have to think about what he'd just said.
Maybe open with some bon mots like;
"I asked you a question at the CSA tweetup when you were on your mission about observing from the ISS, but I really wanted to ask you about light pollution instead"
"How's your hand, must be numb by now?"
"You met my husband last week - he photographed you for a Globe and Mail story - what's this about spoons and the Soyuz?"
3
"How do you like my Chris Hadfield expedition 34/35 guitar world tour bag?"
"This photo you sent with the RASC sticker is framed at the
David Dunlap Observatory, and continuing to inspire kids and thousands of visitors a year to the largest telescope in the world that is run by volunteers, and is located in the north part of Toronto".
"I hope you have something relaxing planned for the holidays - won't you be in the UK?"
But, in typical spazzy Katrina fashion, I got to the top of the line, and shook his hand. Mumbled "congratulations on your successful mission" but it sounded to me like it came out as "congwaaaaaaaatumissssss duh" and of course forgot to record it. Starstruck and cognizant of the long line still behind me.
I was curious what happened to the RASC sticker that went to space. So, I snuck in a question and asked him about it. He said I might still get it back, that the Canadian Space Agency was working to reunite people with flown items..... so, we'll see.
He also signed my Chris 2D
I look forward to curling up to read the book; and will be thankful the next time I sit on my own comfy toilet.
1 - Riding Rockets - great book - go out and buy it. One of my favorite books about the space program.
http://mikemullane.com/riding-rockets/ Goes into exquisite detail of how competitive astronauts are, right down to how well they do their enemas
2 - He's retired - does one still address him as Colonel?
3 - Here's the finished article with Fred's photo http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/science/in-waterloo-chris-hadfield-has-his-final-stint-as-a-lab-rat/article15757547/
4 -
In October 2011, the Canadian
Science Writers Association (CSWA) invited the Toronto RASC to an early morning
meet-and-greet with Chris Hadfield, just over a year before he was to launch to
the International Space Station. Members Eric Briggs, Brenda Shaw, Sharmin
Chowdhury, Bill Longo, Kiron Vangella, William Stanley and myself were
representing the centre.
I didn’t come empty handed – I
was carrying a RASC sticker. I brought
this sticker to the Toronto RASC meeting prior to this event, whereupon many
RASCals touched the sticker – with the purpose of getting many fingerprints on
the sticker as possible. And from
there with any luck, to Space!
I took the opportunity at the
CSWA event to ask him about the vision of long term astronauts and how it can
be negatively impacted by spaceflight – his theory was that it had something to
do with extra cranial fluids putting pressure on the optic nerve. Shortly after his presentation, I had a
brief moment (before he was whisked away to his next meeting – with Ed Robertson
of the Barenaked Ladies – I’m assuming he was working on their “ISS-Is Somebody
Singing” collaboration) to ask him to take this RASC sticker to space with him. He wasn’t sure if this would be
possible.
He referred me to the Canadian
Space Agency representative present, and I handed over the sticker. I continued to follow up with her, and
as you can see, the sticker made it.
Where it is now however……. I’m not sure.
ps - couldn't find a superscript function on Firefox - hope the references make sense
