Chris Hadfield is a Badass

The material that most influenced my understanding of this week's material on space and art was Chris Hadfield's YouTube videos. During his time commanding the International Space Station (December 21, 2012 until May 12, 2013), Colonel Hadfield was active on Twitter and YouTube, interacting with followers and answering questions about life in space. The YouTube videos have an endearing quality and made me feel connected to Hadfield and the International Space Station. With over 1.6 million followers on Twitter and a combined 50,000,000+ views of the videos on his YouTube channel, Colonel Hadfield's work has been far-reaching and presumably has inspired many future astronauts, technologists, and artists. 

 Source: Canadian Space Agency. “Wringing out Water..."

Apart from his YouTube videos, while commanding the International Space Station, Colonel Hadfield took over 45,000 photographs. The photos were often taken and transmitted directly to NASA for storage, without Hadfield getting a chance to look at his own work. Once back on Earth, Hadfield saw his photos for the first time and compiled 192 of the best photos into a book titled, “You Are Here: Around the World in 92 Minutes” (Mirani). The photos are awe-inspiring and show the world from a very unique perspective – space.

 Source: Mirani

 Source: Mirani

 Source: Mirani

Finally, Colonel Hadfield released a revised version David Bowies's Space Oddity and received 32,000,000+ views (Hadfield). 

Source: Hadfield

Videos/Images

Hadfield, Chris. “Space Oddity” YouTube. YouTube, 12 May 2013. Web. 22 July 2016.

Canadian Space Agency. “Wringing out Water on the ISS - for Science!” YouTube. YouTube, 16 Apr 2013. Web. 22 July 2016.

Mirani, Leo. “Astronaut Chris Hadfield took 45,000 photos from space—here are some of the best” Quartz. Quartz, 28 Oct 2014. Web. 22 July 2016.

Citations

Canadian Space Agency. “Astronaut Chris Hadfield Plays Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage's Space Game on the ISS” YouTube. YouTube, 12 Apr 2013. Web. 22 July 2016.

Canadian Space Agency. “Chris Hadfield's Space Kitchen” YouTube. YouTube, 18 Feb 2013. Web. 22 July 2016.

Canadian Space Agency. “Chris Hadfield's ISS: International Space Salon! (A haircut in space)” YouTube. YouTube, 8 Mar 2013. Web. 22 July 2016.

Canadian Space Agency. “Sleeping in Space” YouTube. YouTube, 12 Apr 2013. Web. 22 July 2016.

Eames Office. “Powers of Ten (1977)” YouTube. YouTube, 26 Aug 2010. Web. 22 July 2016.