Early this morning in Kazakhstan, Milton, Ont.-native Chris Hadfield blasted off in a Russian Soyuz rocket and is currently orbiting the Earth, en route to the International Space Station.

Not only will Hadfield be traveling to the ISS for the second time, and returning to space for a third time, but he’ll be staying aboard the orbital outpost for five months and taking over its command in March. He’ll be the first Canadian to command the best foothold humanity has ever had in space, and the largest international construction collaboration ever completed. It’s a serious job.

As a veteran astronaut, there’s no doubt Hadfield is serious about his work and set for the mission at hand. In addition to that, he’s got a sense of humour. It’s one that’s come through in my encounters with him over the years as I’ve written about Canada’s space program.

Space coffee comes in Hazelnut

I first met Hadfield when working at Discovery Channel Interactive in 2007, where I was writing space and science news briefs for the Web site. Hadfield was coming in to be interviewed on Daily Planet, and also answer a few questions on camera that we’d use as extra video online. We got the chance to chat with Hadfield in the minutes before he went into the studio. He graciously answered our nerdy questions about his line of work (What does space smell like? Apparently, a strong metallic odor lingers in the airlock after it’s sealed following a spacewalk).

When someone asked him if he wanted a beverage, he asked if there was somewhere he could get a decent cup of coffee. “The stuff they’re serving in the cafeteria is terrible,” he said. Which is true, but the comment caught me by surprise. “It must be better than the coffee on the International Space Station,” I inquired. Turns out that’s not true.

Leave it to NASA, they’ve got a system that shoots a pressurized stream of water through special space-ready coffee crystals. It works in anti-gravity and the coffee grinds never go bad. It keeps the astronauts happily caffeinated as they go about their busy routines and is better than the instant coffee you made this morning. “They even have different flavours,” Hadfield said. “Like hazelnut.”



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