An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me about Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything

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The longer the flight, the more important personalities become. When you can’t even go outside to let off steam, personality conflicts can compromise a mission or derail it altogether. The Soyuz is so small that it makes the Shuttle seem almost cavernous. A Dodge Caravan has about 163 cubic feet of space; the Soyuz has 265 cubic feet of living space - theoretically. In reality, a lot of that space is taken up by cargo and gear that’s been lashed down and secured for launch. In any event, it’s not a lot of space for three full-grown adults to share for a few days. But during launch, we even have less elbow room because we are confined to the re-entry module, which is also the only part of the Soyuz that survives the return to Earth. On our way home we jettison the other two: the service module, which houses the instruments and engines, and the orbital module, which provides additional living space once we are on orbit.” A lot of what happens to the human body in space is really similar to what happens during the aging process. In post-flight quarantine, in fact, Tom and I tottered around like two old duffers, getting a preview of what life might be like if we made it to 90. Our blood vessels had hardened; our cardiovascular systems had changed. We had shed calcium and minerals in space, so our bones were weaker; so were our muscles, because for 22 hours a day, they’d encountered no resistance whatsoever.” The book is all about life lessons (for people on earth) with examples from his space missions as well as time spent training at NASA, helping other astronauts and assisting in other launches in the US as well as his life in Russia where he was also posted to assist combined space programs plus most of the launches happened from Kazakhstan.

That’s one good thing about habitually sweating the small stuff: you learn to be very, very patient”.Fear comes from not knowing what to expect and not feeling you have any control over what’s about to happen. When you feel helpless, you’re far more afraid than you would be if you knew the facts. If you’re not sure what to be alarmed about, everything is alarming. Colonel Chris Hadfield has spent decades training as an astronaut and has logged nearly 4000 hours in space. During this time he has broken into a Space Station with a Swiss army knife, disposed of a live snake while piloting a plane, and been temporarily blinded while clinging to the exterior of an orbiting spacecraft. The secret to Col. Hadfield's success-and survival-is an unconventional philosophy he learned at NASA: prepare for the worst-and enjoy every moment of it.

Helping others increases the likelihood that your endeavor will succeed, and that you will not end up dead. But if you’re striving for excellence—whether it’s in playing the guitar or flying a jet—there’s no such thing as over-preparation. It’s your best chance of improving your odds”. This said, I found this to be a difficult read partly due to the repetitive and "take my advice I know better" tone. Yes it is best to be a team player, yes strive to be a zero, yes sweat the little stuff before it becomes big stuff. All are valuable lessons to be learned but I felt it needed more about the daily life on ISS or the interesting behind the scenes things about how a kid from Sarnia, Canada, makes it to command the ISS (which we do hear about, but I wanted more). Now a huge, humming, functioning laboratory, the ISS is anything but open-concept; it’s not possible to take in the whole interior at a glance. The main structure is a long series of connected cylinders and spheres, only they’re square inside, not circular. At certain angles, it’s possible to see clear from one end to the other, but poking out along the length of it, like branches on a massive tree, are three Russian modules and three American ones, along with a European and a Japanese module.While play-acting grim scenarios day in and day out may sound like a bad idea, it is weirdly uplifting. Rehearsing for a catastrophe has made me positive that I have the problem-solving skills to deal with tough situations and come out the other side still smiling. If you start thinking that only your biggest and shiniest moments count, you're setting yourself up to feel like a failure most of the time. So make everything count: the small moments, the medium ones, the ones only you know about. This is why, individually and organizationally, we have the patience to sweat the small stuff even when—actually, especially when—pursuing major goals. We’ve learned the hardest way possible just how much little things matter”. What truly surprised me is the aspect I loved most about this book had nothing to do with space travel. Sure Hadfield writes about some exciting moments; like scary incidents while spacewalking and tumultuous landings, but the real draw for me was his personal observations as to what made him a good astronaut, and essentially a successful person. He explains so many intriguing approaches to every day life, things that make you reconsider the way you do your own job or interact with others. It's all presented in his fairly matter of fact prose. There's always a slightly technical feel to the way Chris writes, but some sections like the opening chapter are beautifully written. His description of the views from space are almost poetic, indicating that his skills surpass the realm of science and qualify him as a true author.

In the 1960s, astronauts frequently launched in apparently perfect health, but then, a day or so into the mission, a virus would make its presence known. But not until 1970 did NASA decide it might be a good idea to isolate crews pre-flight.Astronauts do survival training, on water and on land. They learn to think of success as a team sport. It takes a few years to instill the ability to work in a team productively and cheerfully in tough conditions into wildly competitive people. Chris Hadfield is one of the most experienced astronauts in the world, been part of 3 space missions, 2 space walks and has lived in the space for almost 6 months. That's some achievement to write on your resume. But sadly he recently retired. I wasn't lonely. Loneliness, I think, has very little to do with location. It's a state of mind. In the centre of every city are some of the loneliest people in the world. If anything, because our whole planet was just outside the window, I felt even more aware of and connected to the seven billion other people who call it home. If you search for 'How to do ____ in space' videos in YouTube, you will be able to see tons of them (I can spend all day watching them). Success is feeling good about the work you do throughout the long, unheralded journey that may or may not wind up at the launch pad.

Chris even recorded activities which may seem mundane on earth but very vital in space and uploaded them on YouTube for the curious world to see. No prizes for guessing that these videos have all gone viral and have been viewed multi million times. Things like how do you sleep, pee, eat, comb, cry, exercise etc. in space, are worth a watch. As I have discovered again and again, things are never as bad (or as good) as they seem at the time”.

New books summaries

From the book, there's a lot that you can learn about the International Space Station (ISS) managed by multiple countries. This giant man made product revolved round the earth at a mind boggling speed of 27600 km/hour. At this speed ISS orbits the earth every 90 minutes, hence witnesses sunset or sunrise every 45 minutes! Boy, that would be some sight from the ISS! The fact that I’ve highlighted a lot of passages in Hadfield’s book — and taken the time to type them out here — says a lot about what I thought about his memoir. A lot of times the work isn’t glamorous, but that’s okay. The workplace itself is, after all, in a pretty great location.” The ideal is not to sail in and make your presence known immediately. It is to ingress without causing a ripple. The best way to contribute to a brand new environment is not by trying to prove what a wonderful addition you are - but by having a neutral impact and then observing and learning from those who are already there and pitch in with the grunt work wherever possible. This is an attainable goal.