Canada’s most famous starman is coming to Dal — and he’d really like to meet us.
Astronaut Chris Hadfield will be on campus Monday, April 7 to celebrate the university’s ‘stache-y success in last year’s Movember campaign. He’ll be meeting with some of the university’s top Movember fundraisers and delivering a special lecture to the Dal community.
Dalhousie ended up raising more money per student than any other university in Canada, winning the visit from Hadfield who was Movember Canada’s ambassador last year. The university’s top team, the Rowe Mo’ Bros & Sistas, finished second among all student teams in Canada and first among undergraduate teams. Seven of the team’s 87 members raised more than $1,000 each, including team leader Mike Wilkes who was the top student fundraiser in Canada with more than $7,500 raised.
Read also: Mo' money? No problem! Dal students prevail in Movember fundraising
To celebrate their efforts, Hadfield will host a private reception with the Rowe Mo’ Bros & Sistas team when he visits on April 7, before delivering his talk entitled “The Sky is Not The Limit.”
Hadfield’s lecture, open to students, faculty and staff (Dal ID required), takes place from 10:30-11:30 a.m. in the McInnis Room of the Student Union Building. Doors will open at 9:30. Capacity is limited (approx. 550), so arrive early if possible. The event will also be livestreamed on the Dal website for those who cannot attend in person, and you can follow conversation about the visit via the Twitter hashtag #DalHadfield. (The lecture is presented with support from the DSU.)
A limited number of seats will also be available to students from the Agricultural Campus, who will be travelling to Halifax via bus. Free tickets can be picked up on a first-come, first-served basis from Student Services in the Dairy Building (before March 31).
Hadfield can claim a number of notable “firsts” when it comes to Canadian space travel: Canada’s first fully-qualified Space Shuttle crew member, the first Canadian to operate the Canadarm, the first Canadian to perform a spacewalk. But he’s best known for his time as commander of the International Space Station from December 2012 until March 2013. His Tweets, photos and musical performances were international sensations, dramatically raising the profile of the Canadian Space Agency and space exploration more broadly. He now focuses his energies on sharing the importance and joy of science and space travel.