by Scott Simon

Chris Hadfield is 53， a 1）slender and 2）mustachioed 3）former Royal Canadian Air Force 4）colonel， and the first Canadian to 5）command the International Space Station. He may never be mentioned in the same sentence as Yuri Gagarin or Neil Armstrong. But Chris Hadfield has become one of the best-known astronauts of 6）contemporary times because hes shared what hes seen， and felt， with a Twitter following thats grown to almost a million.

And hes used the 7）bay of the International Space Station as a kind of 8）celestial garage， to put on a show. He performed an electronic concert from orbit， playing his guitar and singing with the group Barenaked Ladies and thousands of school students， to encourage young people to love music. He laid down his own 9）rendition of David Bowies注 “Space 10）Oddity”—“Earth is blue，and theres nothing I can do” —with the Earth rolling by in a window behind—or is that below？ —him. And he 11）snapped a lot of photographs， orbit after orbit—thunderstorms boiling over the Amazon； soft， pearly 12）swirls of ocean around Cape Town； vast mining 13）pits 14）gashed into the red soil of China； and North Americas Great Lakes framed in a single 15）shot， tweeting pictures the way a man on vacation might send back shots of both the Lincoln Memorial and a 16）diner with a huge， 17）inflatable doughnut on its roof.

To see his photographs every day， almost every hour， was to be reminded that sunrise and sunset are part of the same 18）master plan. “Its part of our 19）humanity to be in space，” he wrote in Russian. And just before 20）plunging back into Earths 21）atmosphere， he said—in French and English—“I came here 22）on behalf of so many people. Thank you.”

Which is why， said Chris Hadfield， it was important for him to send back messages. Its just too good an experience to keep to yourself. Chris Hadfields most excellent space mission reminded us， in a way， of something human beings can do in space that so far， machines cant—be amazed.

克里斯·哈德菲爾德先生現(xiàn)年53歲，留著胡子，體型瘦長。他是加拿大前皇家空軍上校，也是第一個指揮國際空間站的加拿大人。盡管人們可能永遠(yuǎn)不會將他與尤里·加加林或尼爾·阿姆斯特朗相提并論，但克里斯·哈德菲爾德已經(jīng)成為當(dāng)代最知名的宇航員之一，因為他在推特上與人們分享自己在太空中的所見所聞，并且已有將近一百萬粉絲。

他把國際空間站的機艙當(dāng)作天上的車庫來做表演，在太空中進(jìn)行了一場表演。他在天空軌道上上演了一場電子音樂會，他自彈自唱，并與“裸體淑女”樂隊和成千上萬名在校學(xué)生一起歌唱，以增進(jìn)年輕人對音樂的熱愛。他翻唱了大衛(wèi)·鮑伊的《奇異空間》：“地球幽幽郁藍(lán)，我卻無能為力”，與此同時，地球正從他背后——或者應(yīng)該說是在他下方？——的一個窗口滑過。圍著地球轉(zhuǎn)了一圈又一圈，他拍了很多照片——亞馬孫上空沸騰的雷暴，開普敦周圍海面珍珠般的柔弱渦流，中國紅色土地上深陷的巨大采礦坑，以及一個鏡頭就可以把北美五大湖盡收眼底的單張照片。然后他把圖片發(fā)到推特上，和一個正在度假的人在推特上秀出林肯紀(jì)念堂和屋頂上有充氣大甜甜圈的餐館照片沒什么兩樣。

看到他每天幾乎每隔一小時發(fā)布的照片，不由得提醒我們，日出日落都是同一個偉大計劃的一部分。他用俄羅斯語寫道：“到太空中去是我們?nèi)祟愄煨灾械囊徊糠??！痹诩磳⒎祷氐降厍虼髿鈱訒r，他用法語和英語說道：“我代表很多人來到了這里。謝謝。”

克里斯·哈德菲爾德說，這就是為什么他（從太空）發(fā)回的消息是如此重要。這種體驗太美好了，根本無法獨享?？死锼埂す路茽柕伦钭吭降奶杖蝿?wù)以某種方式提醒我們：到目前為止，在太空中，機器還無法取代人類做到一些事情，那就是——驚奇贊嘆。