Astronaut to talk about life in space
Dr. Dafydd (Dave) Rhys Williams wanted to be an astronaut from the time he watched Alan Shepard launch on the first American suborbital flight on May 5, 1961.
“Eleven days before my seventh birthday, I committed to a new goal: one day, I would fly in outer space,” the Canadian astronaut says on a web page publisher Simon & Schuster Canada has dedicated to his new book.
Williams will talk about “Defying Limits: Lessons from the Edge of the Universe,” released in October, at the Canadian Authors Series at the Roselawn Centre on Tuesday, Nov. 13.
The book shares the events that have defined the astronaut’s life, “showing us that whether we’re gravity-defying astronauts or earthbound terrestrials, we can all live an infinite, fulfilled life by relishing the value and importance of each moment.”
“The greatest fear that we all face is not the fear of dying, but the fear of never having lived. Each of us is greater than we believe. And, together, we can exceed our limits to soar farther and higher than we ever imagined,” the web page about his book says.
An Order of Canada member, Williams flew on the space shuttles Columbia and Endeavour and became Canada’s first dual astronaut and aquanaut.
Williams faced setbacks and challenges during his time as an
astronaut including the loss of friends in the Columbia disaster, and a cancer diagnosis that nearly prevented him from returning to space.
He lived undersea for weeks and logged more than 687 hours in space, including three spacewalks, the highest number of spacewalks ever performed in a single mission.
For information on the authors series and tickets, visit thecanadianauthorsseries.ca or www.facebook.com/TheCanadianAuthorsSeries.
Season’s tickets are available for $160 and single evening tickets are $30 and can be purchased at Port Colborne Public Library.