Chris Hadfield

You're welcome. I retired form the Cdn Space Agency, so my chances of another ISS voyage are virtually nil, bit I would gladly go back. One-way to Mars - maybe, depending who was with me.

First key step is success in your studies. That will open doors more than anything else at this phase.

Here's 5, way up high.

Favourite thing - the people. Choose a career that surrounds you with people who have skills you do not. You'll get better just by being there, learning by osmosis.

Most difficult thing - remembering ALL the details taught over many years, to have them at front of brain on ISS when needed.

Thanks for the invitation! Never hurts to ask. If I have time and hunger at Montreal dinnertime, I'll send you a note :)

3 things: 1 - keep your body in shape. You get strong at the gym and thin in the kitchen 2 - get an advanced technical education, one that challenges you, at least a Master's degree 3 - make decisions, and stick to them. It's a skill that gets better with practice.

Right at landing I felt dizzy, heavy, and then nauseous. After working out 2 hrs/day on ISS I was plenty strong, just disoriented. The inner ear takes time to recalibrate, as does blood pressure. Within 12 hours I could walk fine, though with a bit of staggering.

I see human spaceflight moving ever-outward from Earth. The logical sequence is Earth orbit, the Moon, asteroids, Mars. We have so much to learn/invent at each step, and there's no rush. It needs to be both driven and paced by technology, and drawn by science, discovery and then business.

Yes, it is - you can get stuck floating in the center of Node 1, where open space is biggest due to hatches on all sides. But ISS has fans and forced air to mix and refresh the internal atmosphere, so there's always a small crosswind. Wait long enough, you'll get pulled to an air inlet.

We all tried it - too muffled, not the right type of propulsive nozzle :)

Yes - we ask for a little help all the time.

I was blinded by contamination in my spacesuit during my 1st spacewalk. It was the anti-fog used on my visor, took about 30 minutes for my eyes to tear enough to dilute it so that I could see again. Without gravity, tears don't fall, so they had to evaporate. No way to rub your eyes inside the helmet.

When we have to sneeze in our spacesuit, we lean our heads forward and sneeze into our chest, to keep it from splattering on the visor. Still messy, but the best compromise - clean it up when you de-suit.

What we are doing here is important and worthwhile - discussing exploration, its purposes, its benefits, the useful results and insights we gain that make it of net worth to a nation. The best thing each of us can do is become informed on the subject, perhaps choose to work in aerospace, and directly tell your gov't rep what you support and why. It has to be based on cost vs benefit to be chosen over all other demands for tax dollars.

Picking one book is hard - I liked Before the Dawn, Carrying the Fire, and I read Darwin's Ghost while on orbit. I also read Sh*t My Dad Says up there.

My wife would object, sorry. And she's strong.

1. Galaxy Quest

2. Both, always both. They serve different purposes - we need robots and sensors for certain tasks and risk levels, but we need people to understand, solve and appreciate the complexities of being in a new place.

Cool question. As I think about it I'm mentally playing back all the imagery and feeling of seeing cities from ISS.

My favorites are the big, old cities, as they are well-lit testaments to history and culture - London, Paris, Cairo.

You're welcome. Why do you think that version of Space Oddity was so popular? I've been thinking about it some.

It's a strange environment, weightlessness. I wouldn't want to bring an animal that would be scared or unable to adapt. Also food and pooping are problematic. So perhaps something calm and simple, a reliable pet, like a snail.

Nah, who am I kidding - I'd like Albert, my pug. He'd be hilarious and cheerful.

More - because it's impossible to burp when weightless (the gas, liquid and solid in your stomach all mix together).

As an experiment, try standing on your head and burping.

Yes - I emailed with several of them today. Good people.

Yes, there is merit in the argument, but it's the facts that are important. How much does India spend on health, welfare and infrastructure vs research, development and exploration? What are the real numbers? All nations need both, in proportion. If we don't challenge and inspire our young, then we are losing out in the long run.

Yes, we did. NASA kept our passports and visas, and brought them to us at landing, so we had them at the Karaganda airport to leave Kazakhstan. A funny but necessary detail of returning to Earth.

I felt a special thrill when I could see the plume of Niagara Falls from orbit. It's a wonder of the world up close, and very cool to see from ISS.

I also liked seeing the Manicouagan Crater in Quebec, a 215-million-year-old scar 100 km across, evidence of a huge asteroid impact, still easily visible to passing spacecraft.

Your nose can't run without gravity ... you lose the 'drip' in post-nasal drip. But your sinuses don't drain either, so lots of full sinus feeling. I blew my nose regularly, and occasionally took a decongestant. It affected my singing voice a bit, I think.

Formation flying is a learned skill, with high danger. Start with the theory, truly understand the aerodynamic effects and safety plans, as well as all signals. Brief with all pilots together, in extreme detail. Start flying formation far away, very gradually work your way in. Have an exit plan, always. Watch cross-controlling. Consciously relax, every 30 seconds. Build-up complexity of maneuvers. And have fun!

I don't play any computer games, sorry. In orbit life is just too grand and rare, and I've been too busy since I returned to Earth. Maybe at Christmas with my kids. I'll go with what they recommend.

Space is profound, endless, a textured black, a bottomless eternal bucket of untouchable velvet and untwinkling stars.

My goals for 2014 are the same as always - learn things, be useful, feel satisfied, play music, laugh and have fun, every day.

I've always thought that was an odd way to ask. 'Believing' and 'believing in' are 2 different things.

Our best telescopes have shown us that there is basically an unlimited number of planets in the universe. To think that Earth is the only one where life could have developed is just self-importance.

But to think that intelligent life has traveled all the way here and is sneaking around observing us is also just self-importance.

The universe is basically endless. We have not yet found life anywhere but on Earth, but we're looking for it, to the best of our technical ability. All else is wishful thinking and science fiction.

Yes, we even pose for Superman-like pictures, normally with a big goofy grin on our faces. But the inside of ISS is small enough that super-hero leaps often end in a tumbling crash into the other wall.

An interesting experiment on ISS is to close your eyes and imagine that, instead of flying, you are falling. You can suddenly make the mental transition and it can be startling, like that panic rush you get in a dream. Then you open your eyes :)

My wife has a bit of a thing for Tom Selleck, but she likes mine best.

Not that I know of, and with a small crew, the interpersonal psychological effects would be complex and perhaps destructive. Astronauts are just people in space, but we are professionals and crewmembers, and mutual respect and team success is key.

Balancing work with family is hard. I think most people try, mess it up, apologize, change something, and try again.

The key is to get the whole family, self included, to see the big picture on both sides - work is necessary for income/standard of living/self-worth, and family is necessary for love/commitment/joy/humanity. Talk about the balance, often. Be patient. Remind each other when you are messing up. Make exceptions.

Give insight - take each other to work, spend time swapping roles. Make no job beneath you. Accept that it won't always be good. And work at it, together.

I floated maple leaves on Space Station Mir and handed out maple sugar candies while playing Gordon Lightfoot, Stan Rogers and MacLean & MacLean on guitar.

No, but that was a funny satire article.

Gravity is visually the most realistic spacewalking movie ever made. I've done 2 spacewalks. They got the immensity and tumult of it just right, the feeling of tininess in a vast universe, with an ever-omnipresent Earth. The story line is very Hollywood, with lots of technical errors and oversights, but it's not intended to be a documentary or training film. It's just entertainment, and Sandra Bullock does a great job with her role, triumphing over adversity. As an engineer and astronaut I can easily criticize it, but why would I? Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the spectacle.

Thanks for saying that, I am glad to hear it. Remember 2 things:

• the small daily decisions of life are the ones that will actually turn you into who you become
• celebrate all the victories and joys along the way. Don't measure your success nor self-worth on a distant outcome.

We very seldom get sick on ISS. There's no one to catch a cold from. The worst that can happen to is get a headache (they feel the same, take a headache pill, no biggie), or to get injured (I scraped my knee on a sharp corner).

Throwing up is problematic, as without gravity, your vomit bounces back off the other side of the barf bag into your face. Plan ahead, bring a cloth to clean up. And tightly seal the bag - you live in the same air as the trash.

Thanks, I'm glad you told me that. I try and notice things, especially people who are quietly counting on me. Please tell your daughter 'Hello'!

A fine question. I agree.

Thank you everyone for the questions! I have an early morning tomorrow, so need to sign off. I'll come back and answer questions when I next get a few quiet minutes on-line. Night from Toronto!