Colonel Chris Hadfield OC (born August 29, 1959) is a globally revered Canadian astronaut, military fighter pilot, engineer, and bestselling author who achieved international fame as the first Canadian to command the International Space Station (ISS). Selected by the Canadian Space Agency in 1992 following a distinguished career as an RCAF fighter pilot and top-tier test pilot, he flew three historic space missions (STS-74, STS-100, and Expedition 34/35), performed two spacewalks, and famously captivated millions on Earth with his educational orbital videos and a viral zero-gravity music video cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity". Since retiring from government service in 2013, Hadfield has established himself as a prominent public intellectual, global keynote speaker, and highly successful writer. His diverse bibliography includes his bestselling memoir An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, the leadership guide You Are Here, children's literature like The Darkest Dark, and his acclaimed Apollo-era historical fiction thrillers, The Apollo Murders and The Defector. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada, serves as a co-creator of the BBC series Astronauts: Do You Have What It Takes?, and works extensively as a consultant for emerging commercial space flight ventures.
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