Canadian to take top job in space
Posted Mar 13, 2013 11:18 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
MONTREAL – For the first time in the history of the International Space Station, a Canadian will be in charge of the giant orbiting lab when Chris Hadfield takes over Wednesday.
The transfer of command to the Canadian space veteran will be marked by the ringing of a ceremonial bell.
Handing over station control to Hadfield will happen at 5:10 p.m. ET. The transfer of command is scheduled at 5:10 p.m. ET. (680News will be live streaming the 20-minute ceremony here.)
Hadfield, who is almost three months into his five-month visit, takes over from NASA astronaut Kevin Ford, the station’s 34th commander.
Former Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk, who spent six months on the space station in 2009, is confident his old colleague will do a good job.
Thirsk says the 53-year-old Hadfield has all the skills, the knowledge and the personality to excel as commander.
Aside from Hadfield, the only other space station commander who wasn’t either American or Russian was Frank De Winne of Belgium, a member of the European Space Agency.
Since his arrival in late December, Hadfield has been taking spectacular photos of the world beneath him and posting them on Twitter.
His colourful, detailed images have received international attention and helped him gain over 500,000 Twitter followers.
