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Watch Astronaut, Chris Hadfield, Debunking Myths About Space

Chris Hadfield, the retired astronaut who spent 166 days in space, is one of the best ambassadors for space travel. He’s friendly, fun, authoritative, and knowledgeable — essentially, he’s the science teacher we all wish we had. Plus, he played the guitar on the International Space Station; a fantastic claim to fame!

And while Doctor Who has all of time and space to explore, it’s quite rare that the show looks at space itself. You get the occasional episode like Oxygen, which tells you what outer space can be like, i.e. it’s out to kill us because it’s an environment we’re just not properly equipped to delve into.

So in the below video, Hadfield addresses some of the common myths about space, including:

  • If you get sucked out of an airlock, you’ll get burnt up.
  • Space smells like a BBQ.
  • When something explodes in space, it makes no sound.
  • You need to enter cryosleep (i.e. freeze your body) in order to accomplish interstellar travel.

Some of those may remind you of serials like The Daleks’ Master Plan, The Ark in Space, and Smile.

And if you’d like to learn more from Hadfield, check out his books, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth, You Are Here: Around the World in 92 Minutes, and his new novel, The Apollo Murders.

Philip Bates

Editor and co-founder of the Doctor Who Companion. When he’s not watching television, reading books ‘n’ Marvel comics, listening to The Killers, and obsessing over script ideas, Philip Bates pretends to be a freelance writer. He enjoys collecting everything. Writer of The Black Archive: The Pandorica Opens/ The Big Bang, The Silver Archive: The Stone Tape, and 100 Objects of Doctor Who.

Watch Astronaut, Chris Hadfield, Debunking Myths About Space

by Philip Bates time to read: 1 min
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