by Jennifer Pritchett
Northern News Services

NNSL (DEC 11/96) - Except for the movies, he is the closest most Yellowknifers will ever get to orbit.

Canadian astronaut Lieut.-Col. Chris Hadfield dropped into the capital on Friday to show a video about his 1995 mission aboard the space shuttle Atlantis.

"The shuttle is surrounded by flames," the Canadian air force officer said. "When you look out the window, all you can see is orange. It's like a meteorite."

Hadfield's description of the November 1995 blastoff captured the audience at Mildred Hall, one of three Yellowknife schools he visited.

The students oohed and ahhed as the 37-year-old astronaut described how fast a space shuttle travels as it leaves the earth's atmosphere.

"The shuttle shakes so hard that you can't see anything in front of you," he said.

The shuttle breaks through the earth's atmosphere and goes into orbit only eight-and-a-half minutes after liftoff -- travelling so fast it could reach Hay River from Yellowknife in 12 seconds.

Hadfield travelled five million kilometres and circled the planet 129 times during the 1995 mission.

While on the mission, he operated the Canadarm, a piece of equipment used to build a tunnel to dock vessels alongside the Russian space station Mir.

Hadfield said he enjoyed working with the other astronauts, with whom he had trained for the mission in Houston and Russia.

"The best part is working hard with a talented bunch of people," he said. "Otherwise, it becomes an enormous camping trip."

As a mission control specialist in Houston, Hadfield talks to astronauts who are in space. Only astronauts communicate with those who are on a mission.

Hadfield's trip to the North is one of more than 37 speaking engagements this year. He travels to Canada from Houston on weekends.

Despite a hectic schedule away from his wife and three children, Hadfield enjoys talking to students about space travel.

"I'd wanted to become an astronaut since age nine," he said. "Being chosen to go into space and come back to tell people about it, is an honor."

Hadfield likes to remind people of the importance of the space program.

"Every mission isn't Apollo 12," he said. The space program is like an airline, except we're in the business of flying into space. I spend a lot of my time telling the people who pay for this program what we're doing."

In Canada, four cents out of every $1,000 of government spending goes into the space program.

"It's a worthwhile venture -- it's just a matter of telling people about it, and that's what I'm doing here."

On Saturday, Hadfield flew to schools in Hay River and Fort resolution, piloting the Canadian Forces Twin Otter part way across Great Slave Lake.

He also visited the Hay River hospital then and Stanton Regional Hospital here on Sunday.