Three years ago, an editor suggested former Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield write a thriller. “It could be called The Apollo Murders, that would be really cool, ”he said.
He had just written an introduction for a reissue of Martian Chronicles by American science fiction author Ray Bradbury.
“Seeing this, my British editor was convinced that I could write a thriller,” said Chris Hadfield in a telephone interview. “Except that I had no idea how to do it at all and I didn’t see where I would find the time to do it. ”
Since returning to Earth in 2013, after five months aboard the International Space Station, the astronaut has hung up his spacesuit, written an essay and a children’s book, and traveled the world lecturing.
PHOTO ARCHIVES THE PRESS
Chris Hadfield in the International Space Station
However, the pandemic put a stop to these tours, and Chris Hadfield decided to take up the challenge launched by his editor.
“Like everything I’ve done in life, I set a goal for myself. I set the course, studied, read the books of writers I really respected, from Arthur Conan Doyle to some contemporary writers, I practiced. ”
Military mission
Chris Hadfield has given himself an iron discipline: get up at 6 a.m., exercise, then write until 1 p.m. All, seven days a week. He was inspired by the title suggested by the publisher to create his plot.
“As we were talking about the Apollo missions, it had to happen between 1963 and 1973. And like the word murders [meurtres] was plural, I had to kill at least two people. Something had to be found in the space program to justify these murders. ”
The space race during the Cold War era was therefore the ideal setting for such a plot. In Chris Hadfield’s novel, the US government gives the crew of Apollo 18 a military mission: to sabotage a Soviet space station that has been launched into orbit to spy on the United States.
But there you have it, unlike most of the thrill-seekers set around this time, Americans aren’t necessarily the good guys, and the Soviets aren’t necessarily the bad guys. Apollo, murderous mission.
“Americans aren’t always the right ones in real life,” said Chris Hadfield. They have a checkered history when it comes to their military interventions and political decisions. I lived 21 years in the United States and 5 years in Russia: it gave me a good idea of the strengths and weaknesses of both systems. ”
This is how he turns Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Gromova into a real tough guy who has to face particularly difficult circumstances.
The commander of the Apollo 18 mission, the American Chad Miller, is more difficult to pin down. If he is simply unfriendly at first, his character becomes darker and darker over the pages.
“In the 1960s, the space program needed incredibly technologically proficient test pilots,” he explains. You didn’t have to be nice, you didn’t need to get along well with others. ”
The type of characteristics sought then could attract people who were borderline psychotic. “If you are very smart, you can know how to give the right answers to psychological tests and thus get through the cracks. ”
Chris Hadfield brings up the example of Base Trenton Commander Col. Russell Williams, who turned out to be a rapist and a serial killer. “He was going to work every day and he was functioning well. No one ever noticed anything. ”
Space specialist
While learning to write was a bit difficult, content research was not.
“I am in an enviable position,” explains the former astronaut. I don’t have to worry about the accuracy of what I’m writing – I’ve spent so much time in space. And when I can’t answer the question myself or the information isn’t online, I just have to give the guys who walked the moon a phone call or the people who handled it. Earth’s Apollo program. ”
Moreover, the plot would lend itself particularly well to a film adaptation. “It would be fun to make a movie out of it, but I wouldn’t want it to be a bad movie, something like Armageddon ”Says Chris Hadfield.
In addition, he is working on another thriller, which would take over one of the main characters fromApollo, murderous mission, Kaz Zemeckis, the liaison officer dispatched by the US Navy to NASA for the Apollo 18 mission.
“I looked at what the other writers did to create a recurring character. It requires a certain type of job so that he can move from one book to another. ”
The former astronaut did not want to reveal the theme of the next novel, but indicated that some passages fromApollo, murderous mission naturally led to this new plot. There’s another clue: Chris Hadfield is granting his Las Vegas phone interview because he needs to research that area.
However, it is in Nevada that the Area 51 is located, a famous top-secret military base where experimental devices are tested, a base which is at the heart of many ufological theories.
Apollo, murderous mission
Chris Hadfield
Free expression
633 pages