Vancouver Photo from Space Thanks to Astronaut Chris Hadfield

Comments 1 by Rebecca Bollwitt Monday, January 14th, 2013 — 9:45am PST

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Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield has been communicating with the world below by sending Twitter updates and posting photographs from aboard in the International Space Station. Hadfield blasted off from Kazakhstan on December 19th to start a 5-month mission and has been posting information about his work. Along the way he has also been answering questions for everyone from students to celebrities, and has boosted his Twitter following from 20,000 to about 212,000 today.

With @GeorgeTakei posting about our space comms, all we need is @TheRealNimoy to beam in and we'd have an away team! 🙂 http://t.co/5DB68Ow7

— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) January 4, 2013

@wilw Wesley, we've talked about you being on the bridge. I believe you're needed in Engineering. 🙂

— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) January 5, 2013

@Cmdr_Hadfield @WilliamShatner Neil & I would've tweeted from the moon if we could have but I would prefer to tweet from Mars. Maybe by 2040

— Dr. Buzz Aldrin (@TheRealBuzz) January 4, 2013

He starts off each day with listing some housekeeping items, you know just you run of the mill “to do” list… from SPACE: “Good Mon Morning, World! Today: start installing a new telescope in the US Lab window, finish H20 sampling, and run a colloids experiment.” Between tasks, he takes photos and shares them with the world: “I do my best to take photos & Tweet in the short gaps between work tasks; a wonderful motivation to get ahead of the timeline.”

His photos of Earth have included tropical islands, geological anomalies, sand storms, the Australian wildfires, and the aftermath of blizzards on the East Coast of Canada. A few weeks ago I noticed that he hadn’t posted much from the West Coast of North America. There was a shot of Seattle that appeared but doing a quick Twitter search I found quite a few people asking if he would capture Vancouver.

. @miss604 @warp I believe he hasn't had the right conditions to grab that pic yet (clouds…). It shall come!

— Canadian Space Agency (@csa_asc) January 5, 2013

Yesterday at about 3:00pm Pacific time, the Vancouver and Victoria photos came in:

The first shot of Vancouver, BC, where the Fraser flows into the sea. A beautiful city. pic.twitter.com/QabLtOkb

— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) January 13, 2013

A clearer view of Vancouver on a sunny day – can clearly see the ferry terminal, airport and many boats in the Inlet. pic.twitter.com/4hb5kar6

— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) January 13, 2013

Now we’ve seen photos of Vancouver before. Taken from planes, satellites, and zoom-able on Google Earth or Maps. However it’s quite something to have a man, in orbit, snap the picture for you.

A few from the West Coast. Here's Victoria, BC. Have tea at the Empress and take time to walk through Butchart Gardens. pic.twitter.com/qldYYptu

— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) January 13, 2013

Hadfield’s mission is to carry out scientific experiments, operate the Canadarm2 to perform robotics tasks and oversee operations as the first Canadian Commander of the ISS as of March 2013. Because of his accessibility, passion for photography, music, communications, and philosophy, Hadfield has become a Canadian celebrity. He’s made science and space a daily topic of conversation.

Follow him on Twitter @CMDR_Hadfield and I also recommend following the Canadian Space Agency.

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