Chris Hadfield

My laptop here onboard communicates to a server in Houston via satellite relay, and that server on the ground is hooked through a computer to the internet. The data rate is very slow, not fast enough to watch video, but perfect for things like Reddit and Twitter. We have the data link about half the time.

No Skype, but when we have the right communications links I can directly access the internet in Mission Control, Houston, and Tweet and do this AMA real-time. We have that link many times, every day. It's a great capability to have, really lets the crew keep in touch.

Currently just off the Western coast of Australia in the Indian Ocean.

We didn't see the meteorite that did all the damage in Russia, as we were on the other side of the Earth. But I see small ones burn up between ISS and the earth every day.

Privatization is the right and natural way to go, and we are on the cusp of it now. We have a Space X Dragon coming to ISS in 2 weeks, we'll grab it with Canadarm2.

My favorite experiment is BCAT - looking at the behaviour of nanoparticles and structures and how they form without the weight of gravity.

It looks like a carpet of countless tiny perfect unblinking lights in endless velvet, with the Milky Way as a glowing area of paler texture.

Air Cadets in Canada is a superb program for people between 13 and 18. It taught me self disipline, leadership and how to fly, and directly laid the groundwork for where I am floating today. Per Ardua Ad Astra.

During my 2nd spaceflight, while doing a live National TV News broadcast, I forgot the name of the Space Shuttle Commander. He always went by his nickname of Rommel, and to come up with Kent Rominger somehow escaped me. Instead, I said Ken Cameron, the CDR of my 1st flight. Oops.

I watched a large meteorite burn up between me and Australia, and to think of that hypersonic dumb lump of rock randomly hurtling into us instead sent a shiver up my back.

To be an astronaut you have to be healthy (eat your greens and exercise), smart (do your homework), and trustworthy (do your jobs well). Then you get the suit and rocket.

We have robot ships at the Moon, on Mars, and by every planet in the Solar System. We'll go to the Moon in person again as soon as we've learned all we can on ISS, and have solid, reliable engines to take us there and back.

Can you invent those engines? You have an entire life to do it in. Then you could ride them, and stand on another world.

Those are several bad ideas :) We're here for a pretty pure purpose, on behalf of everyone else. Keeps mutinies to a minimum.

All the pictures I take are for everyone, and available here: http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/

If seeing the world with our own eyes as one place, vivdly, daily, doesn't educate people on global issues, what will?

I never get lost in the Space Station, but I often have to look around to decide which way I want to use as 'up' right now. Maybe this is how fish and spiders feel.

I did a Japanese art experiment to view the world in floating drops of water, and make HD video of it. It was fun and beautiful.

The vacuum of space has no smell, but when we come in from a spacewalk the airlock smells like ozone, or gunpowder. It likely comes from the gentle offgassing of the outer metal and fabric of our suits.

I'm still learning! But sometimes now, I am graceful. I feel like an adapted ape swinging through the jungle canopy ... until I miss a handrail and crash into the wall.

Simply fly - to push off and glide magically to the other end of the Station. It makes me smile to myself, every time.

Australia looks coolest - the colours and textures of the Outback are severly artistic. The most beautiful to me are the Bahamas, the vast glowing reefs of every shade of blue that exists.

Try to look out the window as often and as long as possible. Truly see our world.

We have special computers that run the spaceship, yes, but they are based on normal Earth computers. To AMA I am just using a regular laptop. It's the connection that is like magic.

I love sleeping weightless. No mattress, no pillow, no sore shoulder, no hot spots. Just relax every muscle in your body and drift off to sleep.

I'm trained as an EMT, and Tom is a doctor, plus we have a basic pharmacy onboard. If it were really bad, we'd get in our Soyuz and return to Earth.

The ones that the taxpayers want. My job is to perform them as efficiently and creatively as I can, like what I'm doing today, and during these 5 months.

We conduct science every day, but are lighter-loaded on Sat/Sun.

The biggest danger is launch - all that power and acceleration. Once we survive that, it's just a steady threat of radiation, meteorite impacts, and vehicle system failure like fire or ammonia breakthrough.

We need better engines for spaceflight to be safer and simpler, and thus cheaper. Like the difference to cross the Atlantic in a prop vs a jet airplane.

we use Nikon D2 and D3 SLR cameras with lenses from 400mm to fish-eye.

We can adjust the temp, but we keep it comfortable room temp, good for working out and living, sleeping.

No coffee table book planned, but you never know :)

I shave with cream and a standard multi-blade, just wipe it on a cloth every time, works fine

My family is fine - in fact my son Evan is helping support my social media, and taught me how to use Reddit. My other son is in China and turns 30 tomorrow (Happy Birthday Kyle!) and my daughter is in Ireland. I talked with my wife today, she's fine too - all were at launch in Kazakhstan.

I wrote the 1st version of the song, Ed used a bunch of my ideas for the main lyric and came up with that awesome melody, I wrote the 2nd verse, Ed chose the bridge. We worked together, and Ed is just a wonderful Canadian guy. I really like what we did, and the Coalition for Music Education is doing a lot of good for young Canadians with it.

My dreams are the same, I think - the idle ramble of my recharging brain, organizing my perceptions into fancy and drama. It's when I'm awake that things are very different :)

Please contact the Cdn Space Agency to set it up, at their website. They will try and fit it into the existing plans if they can. It would be good if we could!

I'm typing now in my 'Sleep Station', a small padded room with a door, completely private, like a bedroom without the bed, and phone booth sized.

Sometimes we hear pings as tiny rocks hit our spaceship, and also the creaks and snaps of expanding metal as we go in and out of sunlight. The solar panels are full of tiny holes from the micro-meteorites.

At first, yes, but after a few days, you start to see the whole world as one place. An awesome perspective to be given.

Privacy here is about the same as how I grew up - one of five kids in a farmhouse. It's never a problem.

Yes, I love Bowie, and I've been singing and playing that song. Changed the words a bit, though, so Major Tom has a happier ending.

There's always positive and negative. We lost a crew early in Apollo, and the last 2 Moon landings were cancelled even though the rockets were built. Skylab decayed and fell from the sky before the Shuttle could be made ready to fly.

We've endured accidents, budget cycles, and many naysayers. But meanwhile we have accomplished countless acts of magnificence, from walking on the Moon to Hubble teaching us about the universe, to international cooperation, to Curiosity drilling on Mars, to permanently leaving Earth on ISS.

I'm working as hard as I can to help that all happen, and have been for 20 years. It's hard to leave home, but we're managing to do it as a species, regardless. Pretty amazing.

I have a new one - lemon curd cake. A sin to eat, but we're short on sin up here, so I think it's OK.

I was Canada's first spacewalker, doing 2 to help build the mighty Canadarm2 robot onto ISS. It was the most magnificent experience of my life. Alone in a 1-person spaceship (my suit), just holding on with my 1 hand, with the bottomless black universe on my left and the World pouring by in technicolor on my right. I highly recommend it.

I haven't seen the video yet, but I will, and I look forward to it - thanks!

Yes, I attended Royal Roads Military College near Victoria for the 1st 2 years of my undergraduate degree. My Mother-In-Law lives in Victoria!

I've never been to that Institute, yet.

We live on Greenwich time, UTC, same as London England. We shut of most lights at bedtime - it feels right to do it.

Someone with a good moustache.

The Earth is hit by 100 tons of debris a day, most of it natural, a small fraction man-made. We maneuver the Space Station out of the way when NORAD tells us debris may come too close to us.

My favourite picture is of noctilucent cloud - to me it is both beautiful and scientific. I never thought I'd even see those rare phenomena, let alone get a top-notch photo of them.

You can see the photo here.

Decide in your heart of hearts what really excites and challenges you, and start moving your life in that direction. Every decision you make, from what you eat to what you do with your time tonight, turns you into who you are tomorrow, and the day after that. Look at who you want to be, and start sculpting yourself into that person. You may not get exactly where you thought you'd be, but you will be doing things that suit you in a profession you believe in. Don't let life randomly kick you into the adult you don't want to become.

The Space Station is solar powered, with lots of reserve in the batteries while we're behind the Earth in the shade, so no real need to conserve it.

We work out 2 hours per day, every day, just to stay at a constant level of fitness to be ready to do a spacewalk, and to have strong bones and muscles when we come home.

We have ~130 experiments running on ISS. I help fix them, recharge them, conduct them, and keep the Station healthy to support them. The ultimate lab tech.

If you would like to research more into what is being done on station, you can check any number of the websites provided by the Canadian Space Agency or NASA for Expedition 34/35.

I bought my first guitar with my big brother when I was about 11, and we taught ourselves how to play. I learned formal music and played trombone at school, right through university. I play and sing in 2 bands in Houston, and played with the Chieftains at the Houston Symphony this past Friday night by video. Today I recorded a song my brother and I wrote, like an aural snapshot of life up here. I've always loved playing music.

Hello UBC! Hello UBC Astronomy Club!

We are trained to be able to do everything onboard - we have to be. It takes many years.

Station has many levels of current protection, circuit breakers inside and out, most that can be reset remotely.

Our solar panels are big and powerful, and we have enough taht we can lose some and still power everything.

I hit my head about once per day :)

A long list of questions, I choose ... plants: we have grown plants as experiments for many years on space stations, but have none right now. This close to Earth it is simpler to bring food here than to count on growing and processing it. But to leave Earth and go to Mars, we may have to have a relaible small farm onboard. We think we have learned how, through previous testing.

To be an astronaut who orbits earth and stays for a while, it needs to become your main life's work. It takes: physical fitness to the highest standard, an advanced technical degree, and a proven ability to make good decisions when consequences matter. Then apply to the Space Agency of your country, and compete with the thousands who also want to fly in space. Jeremy Hansen and David Saint-Jacques were the 2 most recent Canadians to get hired - check them out online.

Each astronaut has personal goals as part of their career. One of mine has been education and public awareness of what we are doing in space exploration. This current 5-month mission combined with the advent of social media has made this possible like never before. I think it is important that people see the world from this new perspective that technology has given us, and I do my utmost to make that happen.

The aurora - Northern and Southern lights. A fantastic continuous light show as we swing north and south, just shimmering and dancing there, demanding to be stared at.

As a species, we have always taken the very best of our technology and used it to take us to the furthest reaches of our knowledge - the horse, the wheel, the sailing ship, steamship, propellor, jet, rocket, Space Station. Yes, we will establish a permanent base on the Moon and beyond, but when depends on inventions not yet made.

My guess is that power generation is the primary obstacle, and fossil fuels and even solar power won't be enough. Meanwhile, the Space Station is the crucible where space exploration technology is designed and tested. When we go further out, it will be heavily indebted to the pedigree of space hardware proven on ISS.

About 1 day back on Earth for every day weightless. Some things come back quicker, but bones and muscles take time to truly recover.