An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth
A look at life from the view of an astronaut — this is essentially the basis of this book. Chris Hadfield, growing up in Canada, had dreams of becoming an astronaut ever since he was a child watching Neil Armstrong step onto the moon. This was dream unheard of at that time — there wasn’t even a Canadian space agency — but Hadfield constantly worked towards it without making his goal of becoming an astronaut determine his self-worth. Chris Hadfield eventually achieved his dream, and even became the first Canadian space walker along the way. I learned various invaluable lessons from this book, but the ones that stood out to me were (1) to always be prepared, (2) to be faithful in the small things, and (3) to learn to take criticism.
Always be prepared
One of the most valuable lessons that can be taken from this book is to be prepared. For anything. Chris Hadfield writes:
Like most astronauts, I’m pretty sure I can deal with what life throws at me because I’ve thought about what to do if things go wrong, as well as right.
This introduces us to Hadfield’s philosophy of negative thinking. In any situation, it’s not enough to know what you’re supposed to do, you must also know what could go wrong. And once you are aware of what could go wrong, you must make preparation for it. For example, Hadfield tells of the time he was part of an air show that took place the same day as an Elton John concert. There was a chance Hadfield decided, albeit a literally nonexistent one, that Elton John would invite an astronaut to perform with him. So Hadfield prepared by practicing “Rocket Man.” In the end, Hadfield did not get the chance to perform, but at least he had the knowledge that he could have performed in the situation that Elton John did invite him onstage. Though some may fantasize astronauts as people who just show up to launch in a rocket, instead, they prepare for years. Hadfield goes on to say that during launch, their is no fear of what could happen; there is only relief:
In my experience, fear come from not knowing what to expect and not feeling you have any control over what’s about to happen … if you’re not sure what to be alarmed about, everything is alarming.
Thus, preparation is a process that must not be overlooked; with it, you can approach any unfortunate situations with practiced ease.
It’s in the little things
Chris Hadfield also illustrates the importance of the little things, or as he calls it, ‘sweating the small stuff.’ Throughout our lives, it’s really the little things that make the big things happen. Hadfield provides an perfect example of why the little things are important through an interesting anecdote. On his (and Canada’s) first ever spacewalk. Hadfield was working on the Canadarm2 when his water bag started leaking and droplets eventually floated their merry way near his eyes. Soon, both of his eyes had gone temporarily blind. Fortunately, Hadfield’s eyes did clear up and the spacewalk was allowed to finish. In the aftermath, it was decided that droplets from Hadfield’s water bag had mixed with a tiny bit of anti-fog stuff (kind of like detergent) Hadfield had applied to his helmet, and ended up stinging his eyes. Hadfield’s inability to clean off a little remaining solution off of his helmet could have proven to be disastrous. I’m pretty sure we have all been more careless at times.
Take criticism and learn from it
We must be able to not just withstand criticism, but also learn from it. On criticism, Hadfield comments:
[F]or an astronaut, depersonalizing criticism is a basic survival skill. If you bristled every time you heard something negative — or stubbornly tuned out the feedback — you’d be toast.
Astronauts often perform simulations, and one of the objectives is to for them to actually run into a problem nobody ever thought of preparing for. Encountering problems on earth is no big deal, you can fix it later, but in space, it might be cause for a canceled mission and millions of dollars down the drain. After the simulation, astronauts have a debrief where they are criticized about the things they did wrong. The ability to take criticism is important not only for astronauts. As we live out our lives, we must look back at the things that we did wrong, and find out what to do if the same situation occurs in the future.
Conclusion
By reading this book, you can experience, along with Hadfield, what it’s like to go to space and back. You feel the g-forces as you accelerate, the joy of being weightless, and also get a peek at what it’s like to get back to earth, feeling downright terrible after months in space. Hadfield’s writing is engaging, as he keeps you hooked with interesting anecdotes, cool trivia (according to Hadfield, Canadians spend more each year on Halloween candy than on the Canadian Space Agency), and sometimes a little humor. Whether you want to know more about what it’s like to be an astronaut, you want to gain some new perspectives on life, or you just want to read for the fun of it, this book is definitely worth your time.