Debrief /

Chris Hadfield is one of just 11 Canadian astronauts to fly into space. As commander of the International Space Station in 2013, he broadcast scores of educational but entertaining videos back to Earth. His ISS videos about living in orbit and musical cover of Space Oddity by David Bowie got 10 million hits in three days.

Started in aviation…My first flight was in a J–3 Cub. My dad’s a pilot. My first recollection was flying in the backseat, side by side with my brother, when I was 3 years old. I remember Dad giving me the stick.

Early challenges… I was learning to fly gliders in the summer of 1975 and my instructor was a tiny Scottish guy. He weighed 120 pounds. The day I was going to get my checkride the pilot was big, 240 pounds. It was the worst landing I’d ever made. It was my first lesson on gross payload.

Hardest lessons to learn… Always, always pay attention to the airplane. It’s a lesson I learned early on. Nothing matters except the next 15 seconds. In a spaceship during launch, in that nine minutes nothing is more important than what’s happening 15 seconds from now. What’s the next thing that’s going to kill us? We say that all the time. When you’re ready for that, you say it to focus on the next important thing.

Favorite airplane…The F–86, a Canadian Mark 6 with that big wing and Canadian engine, you have wings on your back and that bubble canopy is great. I love flying the F–86.

Advice…Fly the airplane, and never be satisfied with your skill with the airplane. Know your airplane. I go to the NTSB website and look at how the airplane has been crashed, and recognize this airplane has a couple of bad habits. I’m alert to those. Always give that type of attention
to detail.

For students…Don’t fly in the weather if you don’t have to. Why would you? If you’re not running a scheduled airline or not at war, don’t do stuff in your airplane that you don’t need to. It’s a wonderful skill to have and wonderful perspective you get, but don’t put yourself into harm’s way for no good reason.