Professor Kim 
Tait’s ESS381 Special Topics course had the opportunity to ask Commander Chris Hadfield questions when he called in to the class on Monday, January 30th. Some of the questions concerned the role geology plays in astronaut training. Commander Hadfield stated geology was one of his first loves and he was fortunate to have a high school that taught a geology class. He stated astronauts train extensively with geologist to learn and understand the various formations they photograph from space so that they can take interesting and informative images. On missions, geology knowledge is essential to astronauts when they become “Geo Tech’s” operating equipment to collect and run analysis on rock and soil samples, sending results to labs where geologists will study them. Canada’s role and the importance of world-wide collaboration in space exploration rounded out the topics of a very exciting class.
