Celebrity Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield Announces His July 3 Retirement

Canadian Astronaut Commander Chris Hadfield made a rather surprising announcement on Monday when he said that he would soon retire from the space program. Cmdr. Hadfield pegged his retirement date on July 3 and surprised many who gathered at the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) HQ near Montreal to celebrate his return home.

The 53-year old celebrity astronaut recently returned from a successful five-month mission at the International Space Station with two mission specialists aboard a Soyuz craft on May 13. This was his third mission in space. He returned to Earth with Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko and American astronaut Tom Marshburn.

An incredible adventure

The native of Ontario refers to his last mission in the International Space Station (ISS) as the pinnacle of his entire career. He summarized his 35 years as fighter pilot and astronaut as an incredible adventure. Commander Hadfield assured that even after retirement he would continue with public speaking engagements to reinforce the importance of space exploration.

Home after 30 years

The Commander made a promise to his wife to go home to Canada after 30 years and he explained that with his retirement he is making good on his promise. He was assigned to the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas in the USA and has lived there since the late 80s. In 2003, he retired from the Canadian Air Force after a quarter of a century of service. This year, he has decided on retiring from the Canadian Space Agency.

Hero

In a statement, the Parliamentary Secretary for Defense, Chris Alexander said that Commander Hadfield’s career achievements make him a true Canadian hero and icon. He added that the astronaut has inspired the next generation of Canadian engineers and scientists as well as many people around the world.

Cmdr. Hadfield said that he had been dreaming of going to space since he was nine years old. He has gone to space as the first Canadian in command of the ISS. He was also the first Canadian to walk in space. Having achieved his dreams and more, the social media icon said that it was time for him to do something else, though he did not speak of any immediate plans. Cmdr. Hadfield only said that he’d be pursuing private endeavors and spending time recovering physically from his stay in space.

Time to plant his feet on the ground

In a press conference, Cmdr. Hadfield said that he would get his feet planted on the ground. He also said that he was looking forward to what the future would bring. The press event was initially intended as a venue to share the highlights of his ISS mission. The announcement of his retirement came as a surprise.

The astronaut posted a picture on his widely followed Twitter account and wrote that saying goodbye was much harder than he expected.

One million followers and counting

Commander Hadfield shared his experiences and observations in space with informative videos and spectacular photos using social media platforms, particularly Twitter and YouTube. In this way, common folk around the world were able to view the world from the ISS through his posts. The guitar-playing and vocally gifted Canadian astronaut also recorded music videos from space, including his very popular and first zero-gravity version of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” that went viral on YouTube.

Photo Credit: Cmdr. Chris Hadfield of ISS Mission 35 doing an experiment in space