It is my opinion that Chris Hadfield has done vast amounts more toward popularizing space travel than NASA has in its entire run, the televised moon landings notwithstanding. The general public even got bored of going to the moon after the first few trips, as Apollo 13 dramatizes, but Cmdr. Hadfield has cultivated an enormous, captivated audience for what is arguably routine space travel. (That's not a dig at NASA; it's a compliment to Hadfield.)
That accomplishment is even more notable because while Canada has a space agency, most of the world wouldn't consider Canada "spacefaring" in the broad sense (also not a dig at Canada). That a man challenged himself in his career to become an astronaut without a clear path to orbit, then reached a position where he can bring space travel to YouTube, Reddit, schools, and countless young minds in a new generation with the light touch required to "make it stick" is an accomplishment worthy of immense praise. Maybe a Nobel.
EDIT: Holy cow, this got flagged off the front page in the time it took me to get coffee.
It is my opinion that Chris Hadfield has done vast amounts more toward popularizing space travel than NASA has in its entire run
I'm going to give an opinion here that has no evidence- so consider me devil's advocate-ing, I'd love to see contrary evidence. I have long suspected that Chris Hadfield has been phenomenally popular among the tech-inclined, tweeting classes- but has had a far smaller impact on the 'everyday' person.
I do not mean this as a slight to him in any way- I think he has done everything and anything that he could. But the mainstream media seems uninterested- the height of the NASA space faring days was when there were about four TV channels anyone watched- the mindshare it captured is incredibly difficult if not impossible to replicate today. It's very sad.
Young people are not the mainstream media's target audience, but they are Hadfield's. The obvious undercurrent to his efforts is to get more kids interested in science, engineering, and potentially space travel; mainstream media doesn't get ratings out of that, so it isn't really worth covering for them. This Bowie cover seems to be gaining some steam, though; as another poster mentioned, I've heard about it from several people not in my usual "tech" circle.
Listening to the kids react in wonderment as he demonstrated wringing a towel out in orbit really drove home that he's reaching, and really reaching, the right audience in a way that NASA has struggled with for decades. He is exceedingly well-educated and is probably aware of declining interest in STEM among younger kids and especially declining interest in space travel as a whole. (I don't have data to back that up, just basic anecdotal experience much like you, but it seems true.)
I can believe that he has impacted kids. I'd be interested to know how widespread coverage of what he's been doing has been in schools- and how far it extends beyond suburban middle-class kids.
Allow me to offer some anecdotal evidence to counter your speculation: in the waiting room at my doctor's office this morning, there were three little old ladies discussing his cover and how he's returning to Earth today.
(Mind you this is Canada where he's perhaps getting more press as a hometown boy done good)
He definitely gets mainstream attention in Canada. CBC Radio and the National news program often discusses his exploits and the Q radio program interviewed him live.
I second that opinion -- he deserves enormous praise. I must also add that this video -- with a real astronaut staring in awe at the stars and looking longingly at earth -- is one of the most authentic, touching, musical performances I've ever seen.
When I was young, I just thought astronauts were lucky people who got to go to space. It wasn't until I got older and read through their bios (and such books as, The Right Stuff), that I realized they were actual uber-men/women...not only good at operating a space shuttle, but at a hundred other skills that may be needed when you're in space, including musical performances.
We are trained to be able to do everything onboard - we have to be. It takes many years.
To be an astronaut who orbits earth and stays for a while, it needs to become your main life's work. It takes: physical fitness to the highest standard, an advanced technical degree, and a proven ability to make good decisions when consequences matter. Then apply to the Space Agency of your country, and compete with the thousands who also want to fly in space.
One hell of an understatement: Hadfield was accepted as a trainee astronaut in 1992 and first flew in 2001. For the ISS alone, he got his slot in 2010 and trained until December 2012.
I met a backup astronaut (well, one who hadn't yet gone up to space) a few years ago...among her amazing engineering achievements, which I thought would've been enough for going into space, she was also a Division I NCAA track athlete.
The trials for Navy SEALS and other elite military ops are well-discussed...I wonder if NASA has any extreme tests they run...such as dropping off an astronaut on a remote island with nothing but flint and tinder and a shaving mirror and having to build a shelter with functioning refrigeration by the end of the week.
There's something along those lines in Rocket Girls, whose author generally plays close attention to realism. (No idea if that specific part is "true" though)
There was a recent car commercial, where they rapidly flashed scenes of the process of car design, with a voice-over reading "Bring out the designers. Bring out the mechanics. Bring out the nerds." Each sentence would show a stereotypical example of each. The designers were in a bright Apple-store-like office, wearing fashionable glasses. The mechanic was a long-haired guy holding a wrench.
And the nerds were astronauts, in launch suits, presumably walking towards a space launch.
It wasn't quite so idealist back in the shuttle days. Yeah, the pilot and commander and mission specialists were definitely amazingly qualified, but the payload specialists were pretty normal people.
He's done some really great work in engaging the public with the ISS. He has a bunch of videos on the Canadian Space Agency YouTube Channel[1]. Wringing out Water on the ISS - for Science![2] was the one that got me hooked. Hopefully the next commander keeps these excellent videos going.
"Most of what we have learned about living in space is that we should not live in space. We are designed for gravity; without it, strange things happen to both body and mind. For each month spent in space, humans can lose up to two per cent of their bone mass. This means that each day, for hours on end, the ISS becomes the world’s highest-flying gym to keep its occupants fit. But even with such precautions, some returning space travellers require months of rehabilitation to readjust to life on Earth. Others, despite having access to the best facilities and treatments available, experience headaches, sight loss, and undiagnosed physical and psychological frailty for the rest of their lives."
> Effective immediately, all education and public outreach activities should be suspended, pending further review. In terms of scope, this includes all public engagement and outreach events, programs, activities, and products developed and implemented by Headquarters, Mission Directorates, and Centers across the Agency, including all education and public outreach efforts conducted by programs and projects.
> - Web and social media sites in development (excludes operational sites).*
So nothing is stopping an astronaut or kosmonaut with a Twitter and youtube account from talking to us down here, except maybe a scarcity of free time.
In the linked article, written by Time, a US media outlet, there is the sentence: "But after handing over command of the station to Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov ahead of his return to Earth on Monday, the Canadian astronaut Commander Chris Hadfield had one more treat for his fans down below."
I think Cmdr. Hadfield himself would like to be referred to - first and foremost - as an Earthling. This can be seen in his updates, often using the word "us", inclusively, even when the people in question are usually grouped as "them" in the popular rhetoric.
It is well known among astronauts how the experience of seeing the Earth from space makes such concepts as nation-states and national borders seem banal, silly, not something a space-faring species should concern itself with.
As a Canadian I am a bit uncomfortable with the constant nationalizing of Hadfield (never by Hadfield himself, but instead by people who want to make something of it online).
The I in ISS is about international cooperation, and Hadfield's adventure was made possible by many great people in many great nations. He is a great person, but the fact that he's a great person doesn't make me a better person beyond that we share a world.
The most I've seen about Hadfield being Canadian is on YouTube where there are comments that basically amount to "Go America". There is the standard reply that "You know he is Canadian, right?".
As a US citizen, I'm uncomfortable with the constant jump by the masses to assume that everybody that does something has to be from the US. You are correct that the ISS is about international cooperation, so isn't it good the nations that are involved get their recognition?
I would have thought that if the I in ISS is about international cooperation, it would be important to emphasize, where it's not obvious, that the people in the station actually do come from different countries.
WTF is with Canadians and their inferiority complex that they need to mention this? Canadians are like whiney insecure girlfriends that are constantly wondering whether Americans are thinking about them.
I can imagine, how you fall in love with space and the view and your heart breaks a little (or a lot), when your time up there is nearing its end and you have to give it all up, knowing that it was a chance of a lifetime, never to be had again. A feeling of having been punched in the stomach, it almost feels like mourning.
That accomplishment is even more notable because while Canada has a space agency, most of the world wouldn't consider Canada "spacefaring" in the broad sense (also not a dig at Canada). That a man challenged himself in his career to become an astronaut without a clear path to orbit, then reached a position where he can bring space travel to YouTube, Reddit, schools, and countless young minds in a new generation with the light touch required to "make it stick" is an accomplishment worthy of immense praise. Maybe a Nobel.
EDIT: Holy cow, this got flagged off the front page in the time it took me to get coffee.