a final top secret mission to the moon. Three astronauts in a tiny module. 250 million miles from home. 250 million miles from help. But not everyone on board is quite who they appear to be. Strap in and count down for the ride of a lifetime. Kaz notices small oddities during the Apollo 18 mission, but nothing immediately rings alarm bells in his mind. Thus, for most of the expedition, Kaz believes things are proceeding as scheduled. But a test pilot is trained to trust his instincts, and Kaz has excellent intuition. During the day he could let his vivid imagination run rampant as he fought off aliens and traversed through space. When things go horribly wrong out in space, thing turn from a covert mission into one focussed on rescue. New protocols will need to be created and a loose ‘friendly coolness’ develops between the Americans and Soviets. Working together will be the only way to ensure the body count is minimal, while keeping the general public out of the know of any major mishap. Kaz and many others will have to rely on transmissions and limited capabilities of the astronauts while heading for the Moon, the still somewhat under-explored part of near space. Hadfield enlisted the help of his son Evan to manage his social media presence. They work in tandem to share information over the internet about aspects of life as an astronaut, both the scientific and the mundane. [32] [33] Music

Billboard Canadian Albums: Top Albums Chart". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. October 31, 2015 . Retrieved December 6, 2016. On October 8, 2013, the University of Waterloo announced that Hadfield will join the university as a professor for a three-year term beginning in the Fall of 2014. Hadfield's work is expected to involve instructing and advising roles in aviation programs offered by the Faculty of Environment and Faculty of Science, as well as assisting in ongoing research regarding the health of astronauts with the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences. [47] Genius 100 – An active and engaged community of 100 exceptionally imaginative and impactful human beings". Genius100visions.com . Retrieved February 26, 2022. I feel like I learned quite a bit, but I can't quite say I was entertained. This book was an interesting mix of extremely detailed and specific technical jargon and science beside a whole lot of action that doesn't just need suspension of disbelief, but rather abandonment of it.

Hadfield, Chris (2013). An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything. New York: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-25301-7. LeBlanc, Steve (April 6, 2017). "STREET SMARTS: Milton's Chris Hadfield Way has 'out of this world' connection". www.insidehalton.com . Retrieved December 2, 2017. With space exploration still in its infancy, two political superpowers seek to earn the title of ‘master of the outer realm’. The Americans and Soviets have been fighting a cold, but focussed, political war on land and sea for years, but the battle to explore space is a new frontier. This is the premise of the novel, which takes readers as deep as they could possibly go. First off, I am a huge fan of Chris Hadfield. I fell in love with him when I read his memoir, An Astronaut Guide to Life on Earth. He was just such a fascinating person from his humble beginnings, his dreams of being an astronaut right from when he was a child to his older adult years.

Imagine if there had been an Apollo 18 mission. Hailed as the last of its kind, it would be fraught with peril and steeped in secrecy. Set during the Cold War era, three astronauts must make the journey for the good of country and science. But when things start to go wrong, who can they really trust a quarter million miles from home? Woods, Allan (February 22, 2013). "Chris Hadfield: the superstar astronaut taking social media by storm". The Guardian. London.

Young Chris is scared of the dark. The dark shifts, grabs, and scares him like nothing else. But Chris wants to be an astronaut. He wants to float with the stars in space—the darkest dark of them all. Can Chris conquer his fear and achieve his dreams? Jump on board and see. New species of bee named after Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield". Global News . Retrieved July 4, 2020. Howell, Elizabeth (February 8, 2013). "Astronaut and Musician Perform 1st Original Duet from Space and Earth". Space.com . Retrieved October 31, 2019.

About 820 – 820 Milton Squadron". Sponsoring Committee for 820 Chris Hadfield Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Cadets . Retrieved January 17, 2014. On February 9, 2021, Virgin Galactic announced that Hadfield would be joining their Space Advisory Board to help "provide advice to senior management as the company moves forward to open space for the benefit of all." [54] Hadfield will be joined by former astronaut Sandra Magnus and Chief Scientist of Cubic Corporation David A. Whelan. His collaboration with Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies and the Wexford Gleeks, Is Somebody Singing?—sometimes shortened I.S.S.—was aired on the CBC Radio program Q and released by CBC Music online on February8, 2013. [37] Hadfield sang Is Somebody Singing along with singers across Canada for the national Music Monday program. [38] [39] Hadfield has been credited musically on his brother Dave Hadfield's albums. He also has performed with his brother the "Canada Song", which was released on YouTube on Canada Day, 2014. [40] After Apollo 18 launches into orbit, three astronauts receive word of their extra mission and are tasked with trying to neutralise Soviet spy power. It will be a delicate mission and no one is entirely sure how easy it will be to get the needed answers. Still, it is a must to protect America and every astronaut knows the importance of their patriotic duty. Yep, say no more! Just dangle Apollo anything in front of me and I'm instantly hooked. You guys know I'm a total space buff, so there's no way I can pass up this book. In fact, when I first heard about it, I almost fell out of my chair in excitement. So I got my bonbons ready and prepared to dig into what was sure to be a riveting ride.Hadfield, Chris; Hadfield, Dave (July 1, 2014). Canada Song (YouTube). Rare Earth . Retrieved July 1, 2014. The next part is where it really gets messy, but I’ll keep it vague to avoid spoilers. Let’s just say that things don’t go well when Apollo 18 tries to sabotage the Soviet station, and there is absolute chaos for a few minutes as well a high probability that the space capsule has been damaged. A bunch of other shit has gone wrong as well, but despite it all, the astronauts go ahead and hit the Go-To-The-Moon button to do their burn for lunar orbit. Even when NASA gets involved again, they learn that the capsule has so many issues that it makes the Apollo 13 mission look like a cakewalk by comparison. Chris Hadfield's An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth was definitely one of the more interesting and compelling memoir of sorts that I've read - or rather listened to. Narrated by Hadfield himself in a very welcoming and approachable manner, it was thoroughly insightful and had more life lessons that I found relevant compared to a lot of self-help books out there. When I saw that Hadfield had written a debut mystery/thriller novel involving astronauts and a mission to the Moon, I was naturally intrigued given his firsthand knowledge. Stars. I’m a huge fan of Chris Hadfield. He’s awesome! He’s one of our own! I’m sure every Canadian knows who he is. This amazing Canadian connected with us through social media and introduced the entire world to outer space.

Callahan, Maureen (October 6, 2013). "Astronaut's worst fear: 'floating off into space' ". New York Post. pp.18–19 . Retrieved October 7, 2013. Is it 1-star bad? Probably not. There were a few sections that were quite fun if taken in isolation. A couple of plot points were also interesting, like what the Russians found on the moon and the constant one-upmanship between the 2 nations. Other than that, though, it was an unfocused mess. All this results in a cat and mouse game between Apollo 18, the United States, and the Soviet Union, with each trying to outmaneuver the other. Hadfield has cited part of his career inspiration to have come to him as a child, when he watched the first crewed Moon landing by American spaceflight Apollo 11 on television. He attended high school in Oakville and Milton in southern Ontario, and earned his glider pilot licence as a member of the Royal Canadian Air Cadets. After enlisting in the Canadian Armed Forces, he earned an engineering degree at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario. Hadfield learned to fly various types of aircraft in the military and eventually became a test pilot, flying several experimental planes. As part of an exchange program with the United States Navy and United States Air Force, he obtained a master's degree in aviation systems at the University of Tennessee Space Institute. A young boy dreams of space but fears the dark in this engaging picture-book autobiography from Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, co-written with Kate Fillion and illustrated by the fabulously talented Fan brothers. Convinced that aliens are lurking in the dark, young Chris has trouble at bedtime, and doesn't really want to sleep in a separate room from his parents. But when he watches the Apollo 11 moon landing on TV in July of 1969, while on vacation on Stag Island, Ontario, he realizes that outer space, the very thing he finds most entrancing, is the darkest dark there is. This leads to a reassessment of what darkness is, and how he feels about it, as well as to a life-long goal of getting out into that darkness...

Still, this was an interesting read and a solid first effort at fiction by Hadfield. There's enough potential here that I look forward to reading more from him. I just hope he takes mercy on regular folks like me next time and include a little less technical info dump. And this has all the bones of a great thriller. The premise is fantastic, the setting atmospheric, and who doesn't love a deadly cat-and-mouse game playing out in space? Since this is fiction weaved into real history, I recognized a lot of the people and events of the space program, and it adds to the authenticity of the whole thing. It was also interesting to contemplate how the Cold War mentality of suspicion and secrecy would play out should the U.S. and Russia actually cross paths during the space race. a b Hadfield, Chris (2013). An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything. New York City: Little, Brown and Company. pp. 2–6. ISBN 978-0-316-25301-7. LCCN 2013943519. When writing a story like this, I imagine there is a constant tug-of-war between including enough technical details as to be authentic, but not so much that it bogs down the narrative and the pacing. With Hadfield being an astronaut and having tons of technical knowledge, it's natural that he would focus on what he knows best. But for me, it just went a bit too much in that direction. The writing was 100% to blame. The author simply didn't have the storytelling skills yet to make a story like this work. It was full of conveniences, constant head-hopping, useless characters, annoying stereotypes, unnecessary detail, inconsistent pacing, bizarre character motivations, bland dialogue, too many subplots, no character development, and boring prose. It's no surprise an editor couldn't save this amateur attempt at a novel.