Chris Hadfield Just Keeps Going and Going...

          By Henry Stewart

Cover for the September 7th, 2015 issue of MacLeans. 

For those who are currently too busy keeping up with the Kardashians to pay attention to our home grown domestic talent, Canada's favorite retired ex-astronaut has a lot of events on the go. 

These include guest editing the venerable MacLeans (Canada's "weekly current affairs magazine"), putting the final touches on a debut album (recorded during his 2012 - 2013 stint on board the International Space Station) and even preparing for the release of a new online video series titled "It's not Rocket Science."

Is this a great country or what?

As outlined in the August 19th, 2015 MacLeans online article, "Introducing the Maclean’s Space issue—edited by Chris Hadfield," Hadfield is "certainly no stranger to the magazine, having graciously agreed to have his face painted with a David Bowie-style lightning bolt for our cover two years ago." 

But this time around, the magazine decided to put him to work. As outlined in the article:

He played a key role in determining the stories and selecting the images you’ll see. He read every word of the package, correcting some facts and popular misconceptions, and even catching a spelling mistake or two. 

He also wrote an erudite editorial putting the exploration of space into the context of human history. And his passion for a Moon base as humanity’s next logical step into space, as well as his opinion that manned flight to Mars remains unrealistic in the foreseeable future, led us to rethink how we treated these two topics. 

Successful space exploration, he argues, must inevitably be driven by incremental steps toward practical goals

But Hadfield hasn't been just burnishing his editorial skills over the summer.  He's also been putting the finishing touches on his upcoming, debut album. 

As outlined in the August 7th, 2015 Canadian Press article, "About to launch album debut, Chris Hadfield talks recording music in space," the album, titled  “Space Sessions: Songs from a Tin Can,” will be released on October 9th and carries the weighty honour of being the first album recorded at least partially off planet.

According to Hadfield, the eleven song collection, which includes his famous David Bowie cover tune, “Space Oddity,” is not intended to rocket him to musical stardom. Instead, it’s another step in the retired astronaut’s multimedia mission "to translate the joy of space travel to the earthbound public."

But that's not all...

Graphic for the new Chris Hadfield online video series. Graphic c/o Evan Hadfield at INRS.

As outlined in the July 29th, 2015 Weather Network post, "Chris Hadfield launching 'It's Not Rocket Science' this fall," Hadfield has at least one other project on the go. The new show is designed to be:

... a monthly animated series meant to help make things better by simplifying scientific concepts into an easily digested narrative. 

You're going to absolutely love it.

No doubt we will. We've certainly loved everything up until now. 

Here's hoping that the intrepid Commander Chris doesn't manage to "jump the shark," or "nuke the fridge" anytime soon.