geekosystem

Remember that scene in Apollo 13 where the NASA engineers had to come up with a way for the astronauts to fit a square filter in a round hole using only things already on board the craft? The Mythbusters did that for Chris Hadfield when he was still on the International Space Station. They weren't fixing an air filter, but they took care of an important problem

Chris Hadfield had us riveted with his stream of updates from the International Space Station. We learned so much about life in space, not just from someone who had been there, but from someone while they were still there. We were a little sad to see Hadfield leave the ISS earlier this month, but we're glad he's back safely, and that he's still tweeting about every step of the readjustment process.

Chris Hadfield launched to the International Space Station on December 19, 2012. In March of this year he became the first Canadian commander of the ISS. While serving on the ISS, Hadfield has recorded music, posted pictures and videos, and engaged the world through social media in an unprecedented way. He returns to Earth tonight, and you can watch the live feed right here.

All good things must end, it's said. As a perfect example of this, Chris Hadfield can't stay in space forever. He's set to return to the planet late tomorrow, May 13th, and it's kind of a bittersweet time for everyone that's grown to love his updates from the International Space Station. There's something magical about the way he's been able to rekindle personal interest in space over the course of his stay. There's a new, and likely final, video from Hadfield sharing his mission reflections, and it may or may not have made me tear up a bit.

There's an ammonia leak on the International Space Station, and at the time of this writing astronauts Christopher Cassidy and Tom Marshburn are on a spacewalk to fix it. So far they've reported there's "no smoking gun" in terms of where the leak is coming from, but their suits feature cameras, so you can watch the whole thing streaming live, and that's amazing.

Chris Hadfield is definitely one of our favorite astronauts, and as part of his stay on the International Space Station he's been explaining how stuff works up there and performing experiments. This particular video was shot before the big issue with the ammonia leak, but it only seems right that Hadfield recently discussed why it's particularly difficult to smell in space. Hint: It has to do with your head swelling up.

An ammonia leak in the system that cools the International Space Station may be more severe than initially thought, say officials familiar with the situation. Ground crews are working overtime to try and determine the cause of the leak, and emergency spacewalks  that will let astronauts on board diagnose -- and ideally fix -- the problem are being scheduled  for the coming days.

For most of the world, today is just another stinking Monday, but in Canada it's Music Monday -- a day to help the Coalition for Music Education celebrate music education in schools. To do that, they're having rock star astronaut Chris Hadfield perform with an expected 600,000 Canadian children live from space at 12 PM EDT. You can watch the live stream and sing along right here, even if you are not Canadian or a child. Go ahead, we won't tell.

We don't have very many details at the moment, but International Space Station Commander and Canadian superhero Chris Hadfield just tweeted this image from space. It shows a small hole in the ISS solar array from what Hadfield called "a small stone." He said he was glad it missed the hull. For the record, we're glad it missed the hull too.

Look, this isn't high art or anything, but Chris Hadfield breaking down the water recycling on the International Space Station is mildly fascinating. Also, yes, by "water recycling" I do mean "turning urine into drinking water." This also finally proves that Hadfield can pretty much talk about anything he wants and put it on the Internet, which is something we've suspected for a long time.

It should come as no surprise to learn that we here at Geekosystem quite enjoy Chris Hadfield and his antics on the International Space Station. Sometimes he does really amazing things, and sometimes he wrings out a washcloth in space. It sounds silly, but it's actually kind of mesmerizing to watch.

International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield isn't done with informing us about everything we ever wondered about when it comes to living in space. The man's basically made it his responsibility to answer all kinds of questions about how mundane activities function in an effectively weightless environment, like how to brush your teeth in space. This time around he's taken it upon himself to explain how tears work in space. Hint: It's somewhat disturbing.

Physicists and astronomers have hypothesized the existence of dark matter for decades, but evidence for the substance (if we can call it that?) has been scant at best -- until now, that is. The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer experiment (aka AMS), that detector of cosmic rays mounted on the International Space Station, has identified millions of antimatter particles that may provide long-sought evidence for the existence of dark matter.

At some point in their lives, nearly every right-thinking kid wants to be an astronaut, because being an astronaut is awesome. You get to ride a rocket ship, live in zero gravity, and dine on freeze-dried Neapolitan ice cream, which is clearly the food of the gods. Being an astronaut isn't all awesome, though, as things like basic personal hygiene can get complicated in space, and sometimes even downright gnarly. In his latest video message to Earth, ISS Commander and Unofficial Explainer of Things That Happen in Space Chris Hadfield explains why being able to gulp down a mouthful of toothpaste is one of the many keys to being a successful astronaut.

Just minutes after its Friday morning launch, the SpaceX Dragon craft ran into some trouble. Shortly after separation from the Falcon 9 rocket, three out of four of the Dragon's thruster pods failed. Engineers on the ground worked quickly to fix the situation, and this morning the Dragon capsule is safely docked with the International Space Station. So what went wrong?