Partway through his lecture at Dal on Monday, Colonel Hadfield showed a photo of himself as a young boy, sitting inside a cardboard box that with the help of some tape and some markers had been transformed into a makeshift spaceship.

If you really want to inspire a kid, give him a box, said Hadfield. Not an X-Box a box, because thats where imagination starts.

In the 50-odd years since that photo was taken, the quality of Hadfields flying boxes has improved dramatically: from his days as an F-18 fighter pilot, to partaking in two Space Shuttle missions, to serving as commander of the International Space Station in 2012-13.

Yet, as impressive as his journey has been the first Canadian to walk in space, to operate the Canada Arm, to become a full-qualified Space Shuttle crew member whats even more impressive is that through his efforts, and his skill at sharing the experience of space flight, the now-retired astronaut has inspired imaginers of all ages to reconsider the possible.

He certainly inspired the capacity crowd in the Student Union Buildings McInnes Room Monday morning. The energetic audience responded to his speech with laughter, applause and not one but two enthusiastic standing ovations.

Hadfield was on campus to celebrate Dals efforts in last years Movember campaign. Led by the success of the Rowe Mo Bros & Sistas, Dalhousie finished as the top school in Canada in funds raised per-capita, bringing in nearly $95,000 for the cause of men's health and earning the visit from Hadfield as its prize.

In addition to his lecture, Hadfield hosted a private reception with members of the Rowe team, personally thanking them for their Movember efforts.

Hadfields lecture, titled The Sky Is Not The Limit, took the audience on a trip through the stratosphere, into orbit and back down to Earth again. He spent the first several minutes detailing the experience of the morning before a space flight.

This is the stuff of dreams, he said. Its just a regular day, youre waking up, but by tonight youre going to be orbiting the earth, or youre going to be dead one or the other.

The line earned laughs from the crowd, but Hadfield was quite serious: any multitude of things can go wrong in the eight minutes and 42 seconds it takes to go from ground to orbit, as past space travel calamities have made tragically clear. In those moments before lift-off, Hadfield said, you cycle through all your training, all those years it took to get to that chair inside the capsule.

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Space stories: Hadfield inspires during Dal visit