COMMANDER CHRIS Hadfield was on the Late Late Show again last night, following his appointment as an official tourism ambassador for Ireland.
As part of his appearance, RTÉ ran a Hadfield-themed competition for a prize of €20,014 in cash.
They asked viewers to answer this question:
This might at first glance seem like an easy question. However, as anyone who’s been following his exploits knows, Hadfield isn’t from the US. He’s a Canadian astronaut.
Twitter users weren’t slow to pick up on this:
So did RTÉ make a mildly mortifying basic error?
Well, it’s a slightly murky area.
Hadfield’s official biography (which naturally is on the Canadian Space Agency website, not the US one) reveals that while he is extremely Canadian, he also held a number of official positions in US space agency NASA.
He commanded the International Space Station, whose international segment is primarily controlled and administrated from the NASA space centre in Houston, Texas.
BUT Hadfield officially took part in Expedition 35 to the ISS as a Canadian Space Agency astronaut.
His appointment as commander was hailed at the time as “a coup for Canada” and “a feather in the cap of Canada’s space programme”.
Hmm, RTÉ. Hmm.
(DailyEdge.ie has reached out to RTÉ for comment.)
