Chris Hadfield

In the 2nd grade I had this immense thirst for knowledge about space, Chris Hadfield not only helped me quench this thirst, he also opened my imagination. You may be asking "What is so special about this random Canadian astronaut?" Well, he was the first astronaut in my eyes to truly interact with the public during his stay on the International Space Station. He wasn't the typical astronaut. He posted on social media, recorded videos, and made a music video in space. He was able to articulate his experience there in such a way that it almost felt as though you were with him. He is relatable and human, he doesn't obscure what he was trying to say with extremely technical language. He speaks in a way that is both engaging and understandable to the layman. I could spend hours and hours watching him talk about space and never get bored. I saw him as someone who followed through on their dream and never gave up when he easily could have. He was a kid dreaming about going to space at a time when his country didn't even have a space agency. He could have let doubt win and compromise with a smaller dream but he never did. For these reasons he was my childhood hero.

But then one day in the 3rd grade the stars aligned, I found out my dad was going to a work conference and Chris Hadfield was going to be the keynote speaker. After lots of begging he relented and bought me a ticket to join him at the conference. We got there early and rushed in to get a front row seat, something I noticed there was that I was the only kid. At the end of speech he started taking questions from people in the audience, I raised my hand hoping he would notice me and pick me. But then he had exhausted his questions from the audience, my heart sank, but I was persistent, I kept my hand raised. He noticed and said "well let's take one more from the little ones." The rest is history.