Hasta La Gadget!

Canadian astronaut and current commander of the International Space Station Chris Hadfield will be answering all your hankering questions on Reddit come Sunday, February 17 starting at 4 pm ET. Hadfield will be hosting an AMA (“Ask Me Anything”), in which popular figures and interesting subjects answer all sorts of questions from Redditors.

Hadfield announced that he would be hosting his own AMA via Twitter earlier today. Hadfield, who launched into space back in December in a Russian Soyuz capsule along with two others is currently commanding the ISS. He also served as Mission Specialist on two Space Shuttle flights in 1995 and 2001.

If you’re not quite familiar with Hadfield, he was the one who got to speak with Star Trek actor William Shatner a few days ago about being in space and the risk one poses when jetting off outside the atmosphere. The two also discussed the future of the space program, as well as the progression it’s been taking the past several decades.

If you can’t make it for Hadfield’s Reddit AMA, don’t worry. The ISS will actually be hosting a Google+ Hangout on February 22, where astronauts Kevin Ford, Tom Marshburn, and Chris Hadfield will answer viewer questions live. As with the Reddit AMA, users will be able to submit questions to the astronauts in the Google+ Hangout.

ISS Cmdr. Chris Hadfield to host Reddit AMA February 17 at 4 pm ET is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Captain Kirk is probably one of the most iconic spacemen of all time, but there’s that pesky little detail where he doesn’t actually happen to be real. Commander of the ISS, Chris Hadfield on the other hand, is as real as you get. A few days ago, the two crossed paths when Kirk—OK, Shatner—and Hadfield had a little chat to compare the very different experiences of being on a futuristic spaceship on a set, and being in a realistic spaceship in real space. It’s one hell of a phone call. Hailing frequencies open! [Reddit] More »

In what will be the first-ever Google+ Hangout to beam to the ISS, NASA will be hosting such an event on February 22, where astronauts Kevin Ford, Tom Marshburn, and Chris Hadfield will be answering your questions from 11 am ET to noon ET. The team will answer questions that are both pre-recorded, as well as live questions from social media sites.

The pre-recorded questions will come from users who submit video questions through YouTube. Users will have until February 12 to upload a YouTube video that’s 30 seconds long at most, and it must be tagged with #askAstro. The same goes for questions on Twitter and Google+, while a separate Facebook page will be available on February 22.

The Hangout will be available on NASA’s official Google+ page, so be sure to bookmark it for February 22 at 11 am ET. It’s not said how long the Hangout will last, but based on past Hangouts with officials and such, it’ll probably be around one hour to two hours, which should allow for plenty of questions that I’m sure space nuts are excited to hear the answers to.

In the past, Google+ Hangouts have been a popular tool for communicating with government officials, including President Obama and Vice President Biden, both of which hosted Google+ Hangouts in the past to answer questions from citizens. As time goes on, we should see Hangouts become a more popular platform for such uses, and maybe even become the standard for Q&A sessions with various celebrities.

NASA to host first ISS Google+ Hangout on February 22 is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This morning saw the interview of all interviews. Star Trek actor William Shatner called up to the ISS to talk to Commander Chris Hadfield about the NASA space program, going to Mars, and taking risks. The roughly 14-minute interview went by quickly, but Hadfield had some great responses to Shatner’s questions.

When asked if America’s space program was beginning to fall behind due to the end of the Shuttle program, Hadfield said that wasn’t the case, and that “we’re just right now in between vehicles,” meaning that it takes time for new programs to begin, just like with the transition from Apollo to the Space Shuttle program.

The two even talked about taking risks with space travel, to which Hadfield replied that “to accomplish anything worthwhile in life, it’s going to take risk. Even if you stay at home and sit at your kitchen table, eventually the ceiling will fall. There’ll be a hurricane or tornado. You can’t live a worthwhile life without risk.” Hadfield even said that science-fiction movies like Star Trek inspired him to take risks, like traveling to space, and said that the experience of simply being in space is worth the risk.

Shatner starred in several Star Trek films and TV series as Captain James Kirk who manned the starship Enterprise. It seemed like the two of them wanted to continue their discussion, and it seems they plan meet in person at some point in the future, with Shatner saying he looks forward to sharing a cigar and whiskey with Hadfield after his return home.

[via Space.com]

Star Trek actor William Shatner calls ISS Cdr. Chris Hadfield is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

On March 19, 2009, the crew of the Discovery flew around the International Space Station after undocking at the end of mission STS-119. They filmed this awesome video—which has been sped up—that shows the orbiting structure in amazing detail. It’s hard to believe we built that thing—and at the same time, I wish we had a much larger one by now. Just like 2001. More »