Astronaut’s exploits are out of this world

An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth,

by Chris Hadfield (Macmillan, RRP $37):

Chris Hadfield is without doubt the world’s most well- known astronaut since the hey-day of the Moon landings and Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.

He is the dude who made us all smile last year with his music video of David Bowie’s Space Oddity because, aside from anything else, he is probably one of few people in this world actually qualified to sing those lyrics.

This is Canadian Hadfield’s take on life and a look at what he has achieved, which is quite a lot.

Most recently, he has served as the big cheese of the International Space Station, where he set records, oversaw an emergency spacewalk and entertained all of us earthbound beings with his photographs, videos about life in space and that now-famous Space Oddity cover (more than 10 million hits in the first three days it was online).

He has also been a United States Navy test pilot after being the top graduate from the US Air Force Test Pilot School (yes, there is such a thing) and has filled more roles with American space agency Nasa than you could imagine.

This is the story of how he got where he is and why, by a bloke who manages to be both interesting and inspirational without any hint of smugness.

Awesome stuff.

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