Chris Hadfield - Education, Book & Age

(1959-)

Who Was Chris Hadfield?

As a boy, Chris Hadfield dreamed of becoming an astronaut, and since 1992, he has been an integral part of both the Canadian and American space programs. In December 2012, he embarked on a five-month stay in space, where his Twitter posts about life aboard the International Space Station made him a celebrity.

Early Years

Colonel Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian astronaut to live aboard the International Space Station, was born on August 29, 1959, in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. Raised on a farm, Hadfield developed an early taste for adventure, and by his teens, he was already an accomplished skier.

But flying was Hadfield's true passion. At the age of 15, the young Air Cadet won a glider pilot scholarship. He dreamed even then of becoming an astronaut, but his native Canada offered no astronaut program to pursue.

Instead, Hadfield joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1978, spending two years at Royal Roads Military College in Victoria, British Columbia. He followed that up with two more years at Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, where he earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1982.

Through it all, Hadfield's passion for flying never left him. Throughout much of the 1980s, he trained and worked as a fighter pilot for both Canadian and American forces. This period included training at the United States Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California, as well as performing research work with NASA.