Meeting Chris Hadfield - An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth

He spent 5 months living aboard the International Space Station (ISS), orbiting the Earth and inspiring millions of us on the beauty, awe and wonder of space. Sharing YouTube videos, tweets and Facebook updates of everyday Earth routines performed in space (my favourite is here), stunning ISS-eye view photographs of the world below him, and recording modified David Bowie song 'Space Oddity' , Chris Hadfield has touched the minds and hearts of individuals across the planet. His down to earth nature in combination with his social media outreach skills have taken the world by storm. 

Soon enough, he has become the world's most popular astronaut and today I had the chance to meet him in person at a book signing event in London for 'An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth'. It was great to see so many people immersed in the pages of his book whilst in the queue. I even bumped into a few friendly faces from the International Space University(ISU) and chatted to people who were interested in joining the space industry and told them all about ISU,  it definitely is the place to go if you want to work in space regardless of your background.

Admittedly, I did get super nervous when I was near enough to hear his distinctly Canadian accent and see his infamous moustache, however once I was face to face with the legendary space man his immediate interest in who I was and what I was all about took me by pleasant surprise. I found myself babbling about my love of space to the one person I have looked up to all year and he even light heartedly agreed with me, as an astronaut should!

"My family and I love space"

"So do I!" 

Good one Chris :)

If you would like to meet Chris Hadfield and get your copy of 'An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth' signed by the man himself, be sure to check out his book tour dates here.

-Nikita 

Nikita's News

We're well and truly into Autumn here in the UK and the time I usually spend starting a new academic year has now been replaced by time spent planning my time in 2014! Turning 23 next week, I'm now back in London with a few ideas up my sleeve for what the year ahead may hold. One of these is the newly released daily, online newspaper that goes by the name of Nikita's News (I'm a sucker for alliteration). It has a nifty way of sourcing my favourite online posts via twitter into one beautiful place for you to read easily and conveniently, allowing me to select and edit daily content as I please. Covering sources from my favourite astronaut Cmdr Chris Hadfield, to the life-changing International Space University and my favourite writer & comedian Mindy Kaling, Nikita's News has a range of information for everybody to enjoy. Whether you want an update from the European Space Agency (ESA), the magazine I've just begun writing for Space Safety Magazine, inspirational businesswoman and role model Sheryl Sandberg or even from little old me via my twitter account Nikita_, then Nikita's News is the place to be!

Take a look for yourself at: http://paper.li/Nikita_/1380979535

Don't forget to hit that subscribe button :)

-Nikita

p.s I've been asked if I can really make apple pie from scratch. Find out soon whether I can invent the universe/my cooking skills and make Carl Sagan proud!

People Over Pixels

So I've once again been a complete tourist in the Silicon Valley. A friend of mine that knows someone that works at  Facebook  (something that is completely normal around here) invited me to join them for lunch at the social media giant's HQ. Upon arrival I was told to search our intern friend's name on Facebook using one of the many iPads in order to print my visitor's badge. I quickly learned that at Facebook, using Facebook is not only encouraged but is the primary method of office communication. Pretty much frowned upon in offices around the world,but around here if you're not on Facebook then you're not doing your job.

As you can see from the photos I was pretty amazed by the abundance of free (yes, free) food at Facebook. Food labelled with the infamous FB logo are free for employees to munch away on to their heart and belly's content. Writing on the walls is another non-traditional office activity at FB since what else would the walls of Facebook be for than to be written on?  This creative outlet has resulted in works of art that as you can see are beautiful and often inspiring. 

Of course, before leaving I had to sign the infamous 'Facebook Wall' and post it to my own Facebook wall in true inception-style tech-geekiness that can only be achieved in the Silicon Valley. I went for the generic 'Nikita was here 31/07/13, in true tourist fashion. With one week left in San Francisco,  these tourist posts are only going to increase as I attempt to cram as much sight-seeing in as possible!

 You have been warned :)

-Nikita