Overcoming Fear before Walking in Space

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As a young Canadian boy, Chris Hadfield had dreamt of becoming an astronaut and walking in space. Before realizing this goal, he had to confront his very real fear of danger. Now a retired astronaut, Chris Hadfield reminisces about his experience:

“I was outside on my first spacewalk when suddenly my left eye slammed shut and was in great pain – some substance had leaked into it, and it had gone blind. I thought, ‘Well, maybe that’s why we have two eyes.’ So I kept working, but unfortunately without gravity, tears don’t fall. You just get a bigger and bigger ball of whatever got into your eye mixed with your tears until the surface tension takes it across the bridge of your nose like a tiny waterfall into your other eye. Now I was completely blind outside the spaceship.”

Using a bizarre ‘walking’ strategy, Hadfield had trained for this face-to-face encounter with danger. He offered details at the TED Conference in Vancouver.  Check the link below for his recommended training on how to overcome fear. 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/ideas-lab/an-astronauts-way-with-danger-how-chris-hadfield-overcomes-fear/article17568316/

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