Top 120 Chris Hadfield Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “Kazakhstan is not easy to get to unless you live in Kyrgyzstan.”

— Chris Hadfield

52. “I want to know: How does a space suit on Mars work? Show me how it is pressurized, and how it is cooled. What’s the glove design? None of that stuff can be bought off the rack. It does not exist. You can’t just go to SpaceMart and buy those things.”

— Chris Hadfield

53. “No matter how competent or how seasoned, every astronaut is essentially a perpetual student, forever cramming for the next test. It’s not how I envisioned things when I was 9 years old. Then I dreamed of blasting off in a blaze of glory to explore the universe, not sitting in a classroom studying orbital mechanics. In Russian.”

— Chris Hadfield

54. “I quickly learned that as the ex-whatever, you only get so many golden opportunities to keep your mouth shut, and you should take advantage of every single one.”

— Chris Hadfield

55. “In a crisis, the “why” is irrelevant.”

— Chris Hadfield

56. “The best way to contribute to a brand-new environment is not by trying to prove what a wonderful addition you are. It’s by trying to have a neutral impact, to observe and learn from those who are already there, and to pitch in with the grunt work wherever possible.”

— Chris Hadfield

57. “Astronauts are taught that the best way to reduce stress is to sweat the small stuff. We’re trained to look on the dark side and to imagine the worst things that could possibly happen.”

— Chris Hadfield

58. “Fatherhood is the unending imperfect task of turning yourself into your dad while secretly maintaining the unbridled elation of your boyhood.”

— Chris Hadfield

59. “Value the wisdom of humility, as well as the sense of perspective it gives you.”

— Chris Hadfield

60. “The ideal entry is not to sail in and make your presence known immediately. It’s to ingress without causing a ripple. The best way to contribute to a brand-new environment is not by trying to prove what a wonderful addition you are. It’s by trying to have a neutral impact, to observe and learn from those who are already there, and to pitch in with the grunt work wherever possible.”

— Chris Hadfield

61. “When you’re the author of your own fate, you don’t want to write a tragedy.”

— Chris Hadfield

62. “Spaceflight isn’t just about doing experiments, it’s about an extension of human culture.”

— Chris Hadfield

63. “Feeling ready to do something doesn’t mean feeling certain you’ll succeed, though of course that’s what you’re hoping to do. Truly being ready means understanding what could go wrong – and having a plan to deal with it.”

— Chris Hadfield

64. “She is an uber-doer, exactly the kind of person you want riding shotgun when you’re chasing a big goal and also trying to have a life.”

— Chris Hadfield

65. “I’m not a wealthy person and I don’t think that I would be able to prioritize that much money to go for a ride to a place that I have already lived. But if the price comes down or I win a lottery or something, why not?”

— Chris Hadfield

66. “Sharpie – the preferred writing utensil on orbit since you can hold it any which way and it still works.”

— Chris Hadfield

67. “Typically, the last minute is also when you finally get around to doing all the little things you’ve been meaning to do for months: shooting a video tour of the ISS to show friends and family back home, taking photos of crewmates in bizarre, only-in-space poses and, just because you can, peeing upside down.”

— Chris Hadfield

68. “The rough and ready improvisational quality to life on board the International Space Station is reminiscent of a long trip in a sailboat: privacy and fresh produce are in short supply, hygiene is basic, and a fair amount of the crew’s time is spent just on maintaining and repairing the craft.”

— Chris Hadfield

69. “No one wants to go to space with a jerk. But at some point, you just have to accept the people in your crew, stop wishing you were flying with Neil Armstrong, and start figuring out how your crewmates’ strengths and weaknesses mesh with your own. You can’t change the bricks, and together, you still have to build a w.”

— Chris Hadfield

70. “Preparation is not only about managing external risks, but about limiting the likelihood that you’ll unwittingly add to them.”

— Chris Hadfield

71. “When Chris talks, he has a very clear and authoritative manner – but don’t let yourself be lulled into a feeling of complete confidence that he’s right. Yes, he used to be a spacewalking instructor and evaluator and he’s Mr. EVA, but he hasn’t done a walk since 2001. There have been a lot of changes since then. I don’t want the junior trainers to ignore that little voice inside and not question something just because it’s being said with authority by someone who’s been here a long time.” At.”

— Chris Hadfield

72. “If I’d defined success very narrowly, limiting it to peak, high-visibility experiences, I would have felt very unsuccessful and unhappy during those years. Life is just a lot better if you feel you’re having 10 wins a day rather than a win every 10 years or so.”

— Chris Hadfield

73. “It sounds strange, probably, but having a pessimistic view of my own prospects helped me love my job.”

— Chris Hadfield

74. “Our three big emergencies are fire, loss of pressurization or contaminated atmosphere. Any of those things in a spaceship are very deadly and time critical. Everybody’s trained, but I’m the commander of the ship, and it’s up to me to decide.”

— Chris Hadfield

75. “What I did each day would determine the kind of person I’d become.”

— Chris Hadfield

76. “Nothing boosts confidence quite like simulating a disaster, engaging with it fully, both physically and intellectually, and realising you have the ability to work the problem.”

— Chris Hadfield

77. “That’s how I approach just about everything. I spend my life getting ready to play “Rocket Man.”

— Chris Hadfield

78. “Life is just a lot better if you feel you’re having 10 wins a day rather than a win every 10 years or so.”

— Chris Hadfield

79. “It is spectacular. From about five minutes in, when we knew for sure that we were going to have the weather to go, the smile on my face just got bigger and bigger, and I was just beaming through the whole launch. I mean, it is just an amazing ride.”

— Chris Hadfield

80. “Sometimes when people find out I’m an astronaut, they ask, “So what do you do when you’re not flying in space?”

— Chris Hadfield

81. “Still, I also know that most people, including me, tend to applaud the wrong things: the showy, dramatic record-setting sprint rather than the years of dogged preparation or the unwavering grace displayed during a string of losses. Applause, then, never bore much relation to the reality of my life as an astronaut, which was not all about, or even mostly about, flying around in space.”

— Chris Hadfield

82. “That’s one reason these four computers were linked, so they could constantly compare what they were doing. If one did something dumb, the other three could overrule it and shut it down. But if even a tiny timing error developed, two of the four could split off and go rogue – giving the vehicle directions that contradicted what the other two computers were instructing it to do – with no one to break the tie and vote on which pair was right.”

— Chris Hadfield

83. “Our training pushes us to develop a new set of instincts: instead of reacting to danger with a fight-or-flight adrenaline rush, we’re trained to respond unemotionally by immediately prioritizing threats and methodically seeking to defuse them. We go from wanting to bolt for the exit to wanting to engage and understand what’s going wrong, then fix.”

— Chris Hadfield

84. “Astronauts are taught that the best way to reduce stress is to sweat the small stuff.”

— Chris Hadfield

85. “As a minus one: actively harmful, someone who creates problems. Or as a zero: your impact is neutral and doesn’t tip the balance one way or the other. Or you’ll be seen as a plus one: someone who actively adds value.”

— Chris Hadfield

86. “Our role is to develop techniques that allow us to provide emergency life-saving procedures to injured patients in an extreme, remote environment without the presence of a physician.”

— Chris Hadfield

87. “Things aren’t scary. People are scared.”

— Chris Hadfield

88. “At best, you can be a zero. But a zero isn’t a bad thing to be. You’re competent enough not to create problems or make more work for everyone else. And you have to be competent, and prove to others that you are, before you can be extraordinary. There are no shortcuts, unfortunately.”

— Chris Hadfield

89. “Omega Speedmaster astronaut watch.”

— Chris Hadfield

90. “Explorers gave their lives trying to find the source of the Nile, but I could detect it with a casual glance, no effort at all.”

— Chris Hadfield

91. “When I closed my eyes, for instance, I occasionally saw very faint bursts of light: cosmic rays – high-energy particles from some distant sun racing across the universe and striking my optic nerve like a personal lightning bolt. The flashes were right at the edge of perception, almost as if teasing me to detect them.”

— Chris Hadfield

92. “While play-acting grim scenarios day in and day out may sound like a good recipe for clinical depression, it’s actually weirdly uplifting. Rehearsing for catastrophe has made me positive that I have the problem-solving skills do deal with tough situations and come out the other side smiling. For me, this has greatly reduced the mental and emotional clutter that unchecked worrying produces, those random thoughts that hijack your brain at three o’clock in the morning.”

— Chris Hadfield

93. “I never stopped getting ready. Just in case.”

— Chris Hadfield

94. “An astronaut who doesn’t sweat the small stuff is a dead astronaut.”

— Chris Hadfield

95. “To think that we are the only life in the universe is just an extension of the same arrogance that made us think we were the center of it all.”

— Chris Hadfield

96. “Weightlessness is like a new toy you get to unwrap every day, again and again – and it’s a great reminder, too, that you need to savour the small stuff, not just sweat it.”

— Chris Hadfield

97. “But if you’re striving for excellence – whether it’s in playing the guitar or flying a jet – there’s no such thing as over-preparation. It’s your best chance of improving your odds. In.”

— Chris Hadfield

98. “The secret is to try to enjoy it. I never viewed training as some onerous duty I had to carry out while praying fervently for another space mission. For me, the appeal was similar to that of a New York Times crossword puzzle: training is hard and fun and stretches my mind, so I feel good when I persevere and finish – and I also feel ready to do it all over again.”

— Chris Hadfield

99. “Even if you’ve been a plus one in a certain role – maybe especially if you’ve been a plus one – once your stint is over, it’s time to aim to be a zero again.”

— Chris Hadfield

100. “In reality, of course, it’s a 4.5-megaton bomb loaded with explosive fuel, which is why everyone else is driving away from it.”

— Chris Hadfield