Fans Hope to Speed Skater to Victory
TUESDAY February 4, 2014 • www.langleytimes.com
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NEWS Langley Offers Chance at Romance
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ARTS & LIFE Hitting New Heights
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SPORTS Spartans Clinch Home Court
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A world-famous astronaut touches down in Langley ‘WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER’ CHRIS HADFIELD TELLS 600 MEMBERS OF FRASER VALLEY REAL ESTATE BOARD
KELLY GLEN ISBISTER
Police believe accused molester had more victims
BRENDA ANDERSON Times Reporter
Imagine pulling on your socks and underwear one morning and realizing that when you take them off at the end of the day, you won’t be doing it on Earth. Of all the thoughts to float through a man’s mind on the morning of his first trip into space, it’s a strange one to have, but Col. Chris Hadfield uses the example to illustrate that when an astronaut climbs aboard a rocket ship to blast off from Earth it happens on a day like any other. Except, if you’re Chris Hadfield, it’s 1995 and the day that has been the focal point of your life since you were nine years old — and watched in awe as Neil Armstrong took his first steps onto the surface of the moon — has finally arrived. And it’s the day you approach a spaceport and see the shuttle Atlantis in the distance — the ship that’s going to carry you off the planet to the Russian space station, Mir. It’s also the day that you’ll climb awkwardly into the vehicle, which is sitting on its tail, and allow yourself to be strapped, into a cramped space above what is essentially a giant bomb. Then, stuffed into an uncomfortable, oversized suit and wearing a diaper, you wait, because there are
MONIQUE TAMMINGA Times Reporter
BRENDA ANDERSON Langley Times
Canadian astronaut and former commander of the International Space Station, Col. Chris Hadfield, signs a copy of his book, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life On Earth, Friday at the Coast Hotel and Convention Centre. Before signing books and new Canadian $5 bills, which bear his image, Hadfield spent an hour sharing his story with members of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board, who invited him to give a keynote speech at their conference last week. still two hours to go until launch. “What do you do?” he asks. “Test the diaper,” someone yells from the audience. Good answer, he laughs. But, in fact, says Hadfield, you nap. As launch time approaches, you begin to realize this could actually happen, and the nine-year-old inside you gets really excited. Once the solid rocket boosters begin their uncontrolled burn there’s no turning back — you’re thrown
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back in your seat like you’re in a dragster. “You look out your window, and there goes home,” he says. The “wild, wild ride” lasts for eight minutes and 42 seconds. Then the engines shut off, and you’re weightless. “It’s a really cool feeling,” says Hadfield. “I recommend it.” ••• Backed by a spray of stars on a pitch black curtain, Hadfield stepped onto the stage at Langley’s
Coast Hotel on Friday morning, strumming his guitar as he joined in with a video of himself and Ed Robertson of the Bare Naked Ladies, performing Is Somebody Singing. Among the lyrics of the song, co-written by the two men, are the lines: “That ball of blue houses everybody anybody ever knew” and “You can’t make out borders from up here.”
Another victim has come forward, accusing Aldergrove’s Kelly Glen Isbister of sexual assault and molestation of young boys. Langley RCMP have released Isbister’s photo because they have reason to believe there are even more victims who may have moved away from Langley and may not know about all his current criminal charges. Since The Times broke the story of 41-yearold Isbister’s arrest and charges last week, one man has come forward with allegations against Isbister dating back 30 years, said
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