Dateline: 09/07/10
Commander of the International Space Station
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield will be going into space for a third time in December 2012, and this time he'll be Commander of the International Space Station (ISS). Launching on board a Russian Soyuz rocket, Hadfield is scheduled to spend six months on the space station. In the second half of the mission he will take command. He will be the first Canadian Commander of the ISS, a milestone for the Canadian space program.
As ISS Commander, Hadfield's responsibilities will include safety for the ISS crew of six, ongoing operations, maintenance and equipment of the ISS, as well as overseeing scientific experiments. He may also have to operate Canadarm2 for assembly and maintenance tasks, and to grapple and berth spacecraft to the space station.
Chris Hadfield
Chris Hadfield is eminently qualified for the role of ISS Commander. A test pilot, Hadfield was chosen as a Canadian astronaut in 1992. He has been to space twice. He is the only Canadian to have boarded the Russian Space Station Mir, and was the first Canadian to walk in space. He is an excellent communicator, and has the cultural understanding, diplomacy and leadership skills that are needed for the job. He even speaks fluent Russian.
He's been doing some training for the job too. In 2009, Hadfield served as the backup for Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk for Expedition 20/21, a long-duration spaceflight, training to live and work on the ISS for a period of up to six months.
He then supported the ISS Operations Branch and developed emergency procedures for the ISS. In May 2010. Chris Hadfield was the Commander of NEEMO XIV, an undersea mission to test exploration concepts living in an underwater facility off the Florida coast. NEEMO stands for NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations and the program provides an underwater analog to the experience of living in space.
International Space Station (ISS)
Canada is one of five partners in the International Space Station, along with the United States, Russia, Europe and Japan. The ISS is basically an orbiting research lab. The ISS was first launched in 1998 and the first permanent crew of astronauts arrived in 2000.
The ISS circles the globe 16 times a day at about 28,000 km/h (17,398 mph) at an altitude of about 370 km (about 230 miles), covering a distance equivalent to the Moon and back daily. When it's finished, the ISS is expected to have as much living room as a five-bedroom house. There are currently six astronauts on the ISS.
The main Canadian contribution to the ISS has been the Mobile Servicing System (MSS), a sophisticated suite of robotics made up of Canadarm2, a 17 m (18.59 yd) long robotic arm; Dextre, a smaller two-armed robotic space "handyman" which can ride on the end of Canadarm2 for routine maintenance chores; and the Mobile Base System, a moveable work platform and storage facility for astronauts during space walks.