Chris Hadfield

Col. Chris Hadfield has spent a lifetime living up to that responsibility. On July 20, 1969, when he quietly began his mission towards becoming an astronaut, the gap between being a young boy on an Ontario corn farm and the first Canadian to walk in space was unbridgeable. Canada had no astronaut program, nor would it for the foreseeable future. Chris stuck to it. He spent his time at home learning mechanics on the tractors and old cars, flying with his father and brothers every chance he could. Enrolling in air cadets, he worked his way up through the RCAF, becoming an experimental test pilot and flying over 70 types of aircraft. He made certain that when the opportunity arose, he would be prepared for it. In 1995, Chris Hadfield rode his first rocket.