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'My daughter is in Ireland': Astronaut Chris Hadfield says 'ask me anything'

Here are our nine favourite questions and responses from the International Space Station

COMMANDER CHRIS HADFIELD – International Space Station astronaut and possibly the best person on Twitter – has taken part in one of Reddit’s Ask Me Anything sessions.

We learned, among other things, that his daughter is in Ireland, his son is on China, and he probably doesn’t watch porn in space.

Here are our top nine favourite questions:

1. How is your family doing? Nervous still, or relaxed at this point?

My family is fine – in fact my son Evan is helping support my social media, and taught me how to use Reddit. My other son is in China and turns 30 tomorrow (Happy Birthday Kyle!) and my daughter is in Ireland. I talked with my wife today, she’s fine too – all were at launch in Kazakhstan.

See that? His daughter is in Ireland! And he’s looking down on her:

2. You mentioned on Twitter that the ISS is peppered with meteors but has armour. Do you hear them hit? What about things like solar panels? They look delicate.

Hadfield responded:

Sometimes we hear pings as tiny rocks hit our spaceship, and also the creaks and snaps of expanding metal as we go in and out of sunlight. The solar panels are full of tiny holes from the micro-meteorites.

To which the poser of the question replied:

Whoa (YouTube/Screengrab)

3.  If you discover intelligent life, who should play you in the movie?

Commander Hadfield does have a damn fine moustache, and there was one very popular suggestion for who should play him in the movies:

This is Nick Offerman, aka Ron Swanson from Parks and Recreation:

Nice Ronnie (Carlo Allegri/Invision/AP)

4. Which part of the world looks coolest from space?

Australia looks coolest – the colours and textures of the Outback are severely artistic…

Here are some of Commander Hadfield’s pictures of the Outback from space:


5. Quit throwing rocks at Russia. Assuming it wasn’t you did you notice any activity from your vantage point?

We didn’t see the meteorite that did all the damage in Russia, as we were on the other side of the Earth. But I see small ones burn up between ISS and the earth every day.

YouTube/Qronos1

6. My daughter Rhegan asks…

…. also, in anticipation of your AMA she has been talking about astronauts all morning and told her 3 year old sister, that you have to have a suit, and be in a rocket, and go up into space, before you can be an astronaut. what are your thoughts on her prerequisites?

Commander Hadfield responded:

To be an astronaut you have to be healthy (eat your greens and exercise), smart (do your homework), and trustworthy (do your jobs well). Then you get the suit and rocket.

8. I’m wondering how often do you hit your head off things on a daily basis?

9.  If you look at porn in space, do you get ads about hot single girls in lower earth’s orbit?

Commander Hadfield didn’t answer.

Sadface.

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Pic: This is what Dublin looks like from space>

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Author
Emer McLysaght
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